Top 10 Software Titles Every Home PC Needs?

If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by jawtheshark · 2003-10-08 04:32 · Score: 5, Informative

For a free Antivirus software go for AVG Anti-Virus. Free for non-commercial, non-networked use. It's what I install on people's machines when they are low on cash, and want to continue running Windows.

--
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)

Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 1, Insightful

http://www.free-av.com/
AntiVir(R) Personal Edition for Windows Me (Me&98&95) and XP (XP&2000&NT)
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by cK-Gunslinger · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 5, Informative

I will second this comment, as I like AVG.

I keep a CD of free Windows software for people (helpful when I build them a new PC.)

AVG Anti-Virus (AV)
OpenOffice (Office)
Firebird (Browser)
Thunderbird (email)
AdAware (Spyware seek-n-destroy)
Winamp (Multimedia)
3DMark (benchmarking)
some game demos
etc...
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by DarkSarin · 2003-10-08 04:43 · Score: 2, Insightful

You beat me to it. Having personally used AVG (free edition) for quite some time, I find that it is as good as any of the commercial ones (I am virus free). I don't know that it checks Mozilla/Thunderbird mail though. Try installing your mail client first, or AVG won't pickup the directory. Good Luck.

Also, I have to ask what need you have for WinXP. If it is not a gaming machine (ie, you won't be playing Doom 3), then you can easily run WineX and then you won't have some issues inherent with any M$ solution.

Just a thought though.

--
"We don't know what we are doing, but we are doing it very carefully,..." Wherry, R.J. Personnel Psychology (1995)
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by B1ackD0g · 2003-10-08 04:44 · Score: 1

I've been using Avast! anti-virus. Free for home use. They're pretty solid from what I've seen so far. They also have a fairly good auto update engine so I don't have to worry about visiting multiple computers everytime a new update is available. Looks like it's for WinTel only, but isn't that where you need the most protection anyway. http://www.avast.com/

--
When I'm feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbor's dog run to the end of his chain and gag himself.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by durdur · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 1

Not a bad idea, but maybe it is worth springing for something like Norton Anti-Virus. It scans incoming and outgoing mail and can auto-remove virus/worm attachments (yes, it works with Mozilla). It can also be configured to auto-update itself, which is pretty essential IMO.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 0

I also use AVG.
My father uses Avast (www.avast.com/), which is another free anti-virus.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by GabeK · 2003-10-08 04:47 · Score: 1

That's funny, because AVG does that too.

--

[sig] 10 + 10 = 100 [/sig]
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by SirGeek · 2003-10-08 04:47 · Score: 4, Funny

Free for non-commercial, non-networked
Ummm.. Errr. If it is non-networked, how is it going to get a virus ?

--
UPS Sucks
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:50 · Score: 1

Also Trillian and Kerio Personal Firewall.

For image viewing, I like ACDSee, but for most (*cough*) people, it's not free. =)
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by tuffy · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 1

Ummm.. Errr. If it is non-networked, how is it going to get a virus ?

Loading up someone else's infected files through the floppy/CDRW drive will do it, just like in the old days. Though nowadays all the infected files are Word docs instead of executables.

--
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by zymano · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 1

Avast has the best ratings from cnet users.

But is only good for a month.

You have to register.

Which is why Cnet kinda sucks since it's not freeware like advertised.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by mechugena · 2003-10-08 04:58 · Score: 4, Informative

I personally would add Spybot - Search & Destroy to that list. It has some of the same functionality of AdAware, and even supercedes it in some cases. My laptop and home system run them concurrently, and I'm gradually throwing it on the systems at work. I hate having to go around removing all that spyware manually. When will the users listen?
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by gladbach · 2003-10-08 05:01 · Score: 1

I went to get AVG the other day to put on a friend of the family's old celeron (her mcaffee expired 2 years ago ) and Everywhere on the avg site it mentioned only a 30 day trial.... So I assumed it was no longer free for personal use. Was I wrong in that assumption? I ended up using the free-av antivir or what ever its called... she uses compuserv anyways, so I wasnt too inordinately concerned about her getting a virus...

--
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms,
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:09 · Score: 0

I like to use IrfanView for image viewing. It's free for non-commercial use.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by gpinzone · 2003-10-08 05:10 · Score: 4, Informative

Try Irfanview instead. It's free.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:10 · Score: 0

Always wondered why you people do this? Wouldn't it be more honest not to support something that you know for sure isn't good for them...
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by lullabud · 2003-10-08 05:12 · Score: 1

if you google for "free virus scanner" you do get pretty lucky, the first hit is http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ which is an in-browser virus scanner that happened to do a better job at fixing my friends computer than a two day old install of NAV.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:13 · Score: 0

1) Go to www.grisoft.com
2) Click along the left side of the window where it says "AVG Free Edition"
3) Follow their directions
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:14 · Score: 0

Wrong.

http://www.avast.com/i_idt_226.html

Yes you have to register. No it doesn't cost anything. It's free. Been using it for over a year now.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by PainKilleR-CE · 2003-10-08 05:14 · Score: 1

If it is non-networked, how is it going to get a virus

Persumably, home users aren't too worried about a virus on other people's computers. A network-enabled virus scanner would generally be used to scan other computers for viruses, such as a network administrator running a virus scanner that scans every computer on the network rather than running a virus scanner on each computer individually.

--
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by homer_ca · 2003-10-08 05:15 · Score: 1

For a while there Adaware fell behind in updating their definition files, and I started recommending Spybot. I think Adaware has caught up since then, so either one would be a viable choice.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by a+hollow+voice · 2003-10-08 05:18 · Score: 1

Here is the page about the free version of AVG.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by dhunley · 2003-10-08 05:19 · Score: 1

You and the site both are right (sorta). When you download it, it's a 30-day trial. You have to register to unlock it. Happily, registering is FREE
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by HyperbolicParabaloid · 2003-10-08 05:20 · Score: 1

I've considered switching one of my family PCs from Windoze to linux with wine. But my kids need to be able to play there games (6-8 year old educational games, not Quake or GTA). But I've heard that Wine can be a bitch to configure, and even then, What are the chances that those random games will work? Any thoughts?

--

-------------------------
A person of moderate zeal
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by sawduster · 2003-10-08 05:22 · Score: 1

Was just to their site - www.grisoft.com - and it looks to still be free for home use without any limitations.

I think that this is an excellent product - user friendly, regular updates, and rock solid. After trying it, I purchased the 10-user license for work. I also recommended it to a friend who in turn purchased the same license...so you have at least two happy paying users.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:33 · Score: 0

Just give 'em nethack, I think that's educational.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by sheddd · 2003-10-08 05:37 · Score: 1

Irfanview seriously pisses me off. It takes over file associations for TONS of filetypes and when you remove irfanview, it does a piss poor job of cleaning itself up. That may not be true of the current version but past versions didn't uninstall cleanly. It's on our companies 'blacklist' of crap that WILL NEVER be installed on our machines.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by holy+felafel · 2003-10-08 05:46 · Score: 1

On the win32 side I agree that AVG is deep in my toolkit.
for a dual boot I would recommend loading up wour win32 with free software as a first choice because then you can use the same programs under each system and not have to learn two sets of commands(ie Photoshop & Gimp)
Most other win32 apps that I couldn't do without (should i find myself on that arch somehow) are included on the GnuWin II CD http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/apps/en/index.html the most essential of these are gvim -- ascii editor
gimp -- graphics
UnxUtils -- ls,grep,find,wget etc for dos essential for minimising brain damage
celestia -- fruit
winamp2 -- yes 2 (polished & less annoyance IMHO)
and on the finux side
all the same plus I would feel in the dark if gkrellm was not letting me know _everything_ going on under the hood
oh! and xplanetbg to remind you how small your problems really are :-)
hf
-- Free Mickey
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by prandal · 2003-10-08 05:56 · Score: 1

AVG is total rubbish compared to Avast!, which is also free for personal use. Highly recommended.

I also recommend the image viewer IrfanView, the Filezilla ftp client and server, Audacity, The GIMP for Windows, the ConText text editor, the KiXtart scripting tool, GAIM for Windows, and that's just for starters.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by prandal · 2003-10-08 05:59 · Score: 1

Their support forums are excellent too.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:19 · Score: 0

I agree, Irfanview is very nice.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:20 · Score: 0

Then you have not installed it lately. It offers full control over what filetypes it takes over, and takes over ZERO by default.

When you install it, you are presented with a list of file associations, none of which are checked. You pick the ones you want, click okay, and then it AGAIN asks you if you really want to associate those filetypes with Irfanview.

Try it again. It's handling of filetypes is actually one of the reasons that I LIKE the program.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by superyooser · 2003-10-08 06:22 · Score: 1

All you have to do is go to the preferences and deselect the associations you don't want. The changes take effect immediately.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by MooseGuy529 · 2003-10-08 06:25 · Score: 1

I second that--AdAware (I think) has a trial period, but Spybot is free, and it has some better features.

--
Tired of free iPod sigs? Subscribe to my blacklist
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by inteller · 2003-10-08 06:29 · Score: 1

I thought AdAware itself was a slyware program....anyways... ...for an AV I suggest AntiVir/XP. Very slick.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by aongus · 2003-10-08 06:35 · Score: 1

For Linux, use AntiVir (http://www.hbedv.com/infos/prices.htm#personal and scroll to the bottom of the page), it is free of charge for private (individual, non-commercial) use.

On Windoze, I always install MailWasher. (It also works with WinE, for Linux.) It's the best thing I've ever seen for spam. I also use Pegasus e-mail for those who want a stand-alone e-mail program.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by pyros · 2003-10-08 06:46 · Score: 1

I don't recall if it was the AV or firewall application, I think it was the AV, but it prevented people from using SMTP servers with STARTTLS. I think it's pretty retarded for an AV program to be snooping on the protocol streams themselves. Scanning a file prior to reading or writing should be enough to catch any file-born virus. You have to open the file for reading to execute it, do you not? You have to write the email attachement to disk before you can execute it, correct? So why the **** does it have to snoop my SMTP/IMAP/POP connections?!
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by MadBiologist · 2003-10-08 06:47 · Score: 1

AVG is total rubbish compared to Avast!, which is also free for personal use. Highly recommended
Why? What makes Avast! a better program than AVG? I'm not knocking you, I'm really curious because I just by default use AVG to scan my PC (it's better and faster than my other computer's McCaffey AV)...
Thanks!

--
'Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?'
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by blibbleblobble · 2003-10-08 06:49 · Score: 5, Informative

"I keep a CD of free Windows software for people (helpful when I build them a new PC.)"

A good version of this is The OpenCD for people who want ideas, or to check your own "useful programs" CD against what other people are using.

(disclaimer: one of my programs was on the suggestions list for theopencd)
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by ouzel · 2003-10-08 06:53 · Score: 1

That is utterly ridiculous. You can easily assign or remove file associations in Irfanview under the Options menu. Not only that, you can choose at install time which associations you want. I use Irfanview nearly every day. It is hands down *the* best lightweight image program I have found. I use the batch processor all the time. Check out Irfanview, you won't be sorry.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by __past__ · 2003-10-08 07:00 · Score: 0, Flamebait

If you are too cheap for an anti-virus program, how about not executing programs from untrusted sources? While we are at it, if you are too cheap for a personal firewall, not having arbitrary ports open could be an OK solution.
There are drawbacks, however: a) You have to understand, at least a little, how computers and networks work, and b) it severely harms the economy, because you neither pay people who write these useless kinds of software, nor those who "repair" you computer after a break-in against which they offer little protection anyway.

--
Programming can be fun again. Film at 11.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by ocelotbob · 2003-10-08 07:11 · Score: 1

Because many new viruses have their own internal SMTP engines. Yeah, the virus has to execute, but it's possible for viruses to masquerade as another process, or do some sneaky dll hijacking. If you don't trust the AV software, then use another program. Course, if you believe that the AV software is scanning your emails to report back to the mothership, I've got some lovely headgear for you, made from the finest aluminum.

--
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 07:14 · Score: 0

You should "test" some of that educational software. Specifically, one that covers there, their and they're.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by ameoba · 2003-10-08 07:34 · Score: 1

On the game front, I must mention Crack Attack. Quite possibly the most addicting puzzle game I've ever played.

--
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by isorox · 2003-10-08 08:07 · Score: 1

It's a placebo in'it. Makes granny happy but doesnt do shit. Bit like grandad really.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Alorelith · 2003-10-08 08:09 · Score: 1

I'd like to add Spywareblaster to this list also. It, from what I understand, prevents the installation of most of these spyware and adware programs. I like to use Adaware, Search and Destroy, and Spyware Blaster together. All free too. Spyware Blaster
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by prandal · 2003-10-08 08:48 · Score: 1

By default, Avast! autoupdates (patterns and program) whenever you connect to the net, and every 8 hours or so thereafter. Autoupdates are incremental, so the time taken to update is low, even for dial-up users. I see that AVG has only just implemented incremental updates.

I'd seen rather too many people who had nothing but problems with AVG in the past, and too many viruses slipping past AVG.

But your mileage may vary. It didn't stay on my PC for long, and nor did Antivir. Both caused problems here. So far, Avast! 3 and 4 on this PC have proven to be solid.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Pushnell · 2003-10-08 09:02 · Score: 2, Informative

I find that it is as good as any of the commercial ones (I am virus free).
Have I got some AV software for you! It's only one batch file, and it's open-source too! Here it is:

ECHO No viruses found.

Seriously tho, I have seen lesser software (for sake of not starting a flame-war, I won't mention any names) miss viruses, which gives end-users a false sense of security. Then they bring their computers to me and say "It's not working right, but I know I don't have any viruses. My software says so."

On top of that, when I do find viruses on their computer with commercial anti-virus software, they occasionally accuse me of lying ... "Well, it SAID it didn't have any viruses, so you must be wrong. Did you put a virus in there young man?"

I know free software is nice, but viruses & worms are one area where it's worth your $50. (at least to me it is.) If my OpenOffice or Mozilla doesn't work right, I'm not gonna be picking viruses out of my network for the next few days.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 09:06 · Score: 1

Actually, AdAware is free as long as you don't get AdWatch (their real-time spyware scan). However, I do agree about Spybot having better features (built-in IE lockdown capability). However, it couldn't remove several apps that AdAware could on my school's boxes.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by hkmwbz · 2003-10-08 09:24 · Score: 4, Informative

I mostly agree with you, but I also have to break it to you: Firebird and especially Thunderbird are not to be considered as "production" software. This might sound like a troll, but the response you will get if you visit the MozillaZine forums for example, and complain about the lack of an installer, certain issues with extensions and so on, is that you should consider using another browser. Also, a lot of Firebird enthusiasts are actually hesitant to spread the word too much, or to convince people to use Firebird if they are not aware of the state it is in (such as posting glowing reviews on download.com). I am not saying that it is a bad browser, but it is still at 0.x, and needs some work before Joe Blow can use it without problems.
And Thunderbird is so far from completed I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is not willing to put in a lot of effort to actually test and report bugs for the program.
I think the Mozilla suite/SeaMonkey might be more down most people's alley.

--
Clever signature text goes here.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:26 · Score: 0

"didn't uninstall cleanly"

What? Irfanview doesn't need an install.
Just unzip the file and put a shortcut to the .exe in your start\programs.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 09:35 · Score: 1

The only thing is, it's only AVG 6.0, not 7.0. That's the only reason I actually looked at Avast - and didn't like it at all.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by cK-Gunslinger · 2003-10-08 09:58 · Score: 1

I don't know about that. In my opinion, Firebird, at a 0.6 release, is still a better and more stable browser than any version of IE to date. If most people can put up with IE crashes/anomolies, then they should just as easily shrug-off the relatively few glitches in FB, especially in light of the advantages of tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking, etc. I use it, but more importantly, both my wife and my 7-year-old daughter use it without incident. Because of that, I feel it's "good enough" to recommend to most people.

I do agree that Thunderbird is relatively weak, however. I have it installed, setup correctly, imported all my mail mesages and newsgroup setting, and have a quick launch icon right next to Outlook Express. Yet, I invariably click on the OE icon instead. It's just feels faster and "nicer" all-around, especially in the area of NG message threading and such. Now, for people that are used to older versions of Netscape Mail, I *do* recommend TB. They both feel exactly the same to me.

I went from Netscape -> IE -> Mozilla -> Firebird. The jump from IE to Mozilla was nice. But the jump from Mozilla to Firebird was almost just as nice. Mozilla is nice and relatively stable, but compared to Firebird, it feels bloated and slow.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by agallagh42 · 2003-10-08 10:00 · Score: 1

Just tried Irfanview again, since it's been a couple of years since I last looked at it. Wow, what an improvement. The batch processing alone is worth the cost of entry ($0, I think I can swing that!).

I think I'll keep ACDSee Classic (2.43) around for viewing images, because it's hella fast, but Irfanview will handle 99% of my photo editing tasks from now on (99% = resizing and rotating, 1% = red eye removal). Thanks for the tip!

--
Carpe Cerevisi - Seize the Beer
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Photon+Ghoul · 2003-10-08 10:25 · Score: 1

Wine is hard to setup... unless you use RedHat 9 and install the RPMs. Same with WineX. Both work like a charm with no configuration necessary. The 6-8 year old games will probably run. I can run Ultima Online which as old as those.

Just some food for thought (and don't be scared of the "Wine is hard to setup" thoughts).
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by puck01 · 2003-10-08 10:41 · Score: 1

I have a similar CD I use for family and friends to "optimize" their computers (that all run windows). I use those programs you have listed, but I'd add one I've really grown to appreciate on windows that is largely unheralded. That is Fast Defrag Standard . It is freeware and basically defrags the RAM occasionally. You can play with the settings to get the effect you'd like. My experience is that is has greatly extended the time necessary for reboot on these machines.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Darth+Fredd · 2003-10-08 10:50 · Score: 1

some game demos

skinflint! for Ultimate Survival, you'll need:

-quake 3,because of its awesome sweetness, and because it runs Urban Terror
-Jedi Knight 2, because you always wanted to be a jedi
-Zombies Ate My Neighbors, because you need a game cartridge with a title to scare your friends..
-Grand Theft Auto, because you want to scare off the friends that remained after they spotted the above game cartridge, and are scared that you'll a)steal their car and b) run over them for $700..

--
"The most looniest, zaniest, spontaneous, sporadic Impulsive thinker, compulsive drinker, addict"
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by cookd · 2003-10-08 11:00 · Score: 1

No clue about Thunderbird.

But FireBird is great. No stability problems, no lack of features, and no installation issues.

Sure, you have to know how to unzip it by yourself. And if you want to upgrade, you have to remove the old version yourself, perhaps remove your profile, and you have to manually re-import any bookmarks and reinstall any plugins. But it isn't that hard.

Really, it is the best browser for general purpose browsing I've been able to get my hands on. Like any software, it has a few rough edges and quirks, but none of them are serious enough to not use it. Very few crashes, very few times when it doesn't let me do what I need to do. Better for general browsing than Explorer. I've been using it since 0.5 release, and I'm a convert. (Heck, I even work for Microsoft! Don't tell anyone that I'm using FireBird, or I might get in trouble (grin).)

--
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by macshit · 2003-10-08 11:12 · Score: 1

Oh, bullshit. I don't know about T.B., but Firebird certainly is `production quality' to the extent that it matters for most people.

There are always going to bugs, but most of them don't matter 99% of the time; compared to IE, or even better, something like netscape from 4 years ago, Firebird is a refreshing and painless experience.

I suspect you're right about Thunderbird, not least because a mail programs can cause a lot more damage if something goes wrong.

As for Firebird vs. Mozilla, I don't know, but I think from a typical user's point of view, they're basically in the same state; F.B. has a slightly more well-thought-out interface, but Mozilla feels a bit closer to netscape (maybe some people like that).

--
We live, as we dream -- alone....
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by mwilliamson · 2003-10-08 11:39 · Score: 1

I'd also add to this list:
zipcentral (free winzip clone)
Activestate Perl (gotta have a native perl)
pegasus mail (hey, I like it)
secure shell client from ssh.com (w/ drag/drop sftp)
The Gimp (photoshop replacement)
ws_ftp (oldie but goodie)
ghostscript/ghostview (tech papers often in .ps)
acrobat reader (pita to be without)
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by fatalist23 · 2003-10-08 11:42 · Score: 1

which program? Just curious.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by ottothecow · 2003-10-08 11:59 · Score: 1

XNView is GPL'd and runs on linux/windows...gret image browser, faster and better than acdsee

--
Bottles.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by adamfranco · 2003-10-08 12:22 · Score: 1

The rest of these replies all say good things about Firebird, and I agree.

I HAVE been using Thunderbird -- since the day after it was released.

Opinion: Awesome, with a few caveaots. Thunderbird works great. I have never had it crash, stop working, or do anything unexpected. It just works, and well.

The only issues with thunderbird are the few un-implimented features:
- can't put signatures before replies
- lack of system integration on *NIX machines means that you have to copy paste links instead of clicking.
- A couple of other things, but I couldn't find them. :-)

Perfectly adequate for most people (who can copy/paste a link)

--
"When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind." -- Bill Moyers
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by zymano · 2003-10-08 12:23 · Score: 1

Your right.

I am programmed to recognize registration as $$$.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by retrosteve · 2003-10-08 12:50 · Score: 1

Warning on Winamp:

Winamp on a PC (as of about 6 months ago) leaked memory so severely that it would shut down a computer after an hour or a day. I had to stop using it and tell all my employees to do the same.

Unless they've fixed this problem recently, try an alternative player/mm. I've found RealOne pretty good, and free, but I haven't really settled on a favorite.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by zak · 2003-10-08 13:11 · Score: 1

Get Pokemon Puzzle Challenge for the GameBoy - Crack Attack is a poor ripoff of this game. Puzzle Challenge does a good job of ramping up the difficulty, not just randomly throwing blocks at you.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by The+Tyro · 2003-10-08 13:58 · Score: 1

I'll third that, and add a recent story to illustrate the point.

I recently tuned up a couple of PCs that were being used in a library... these are the computers your mother warned you about... all alone, two win2k boxen, unpatched, unfirewalled, on an open cable modem connection.

Yes... it's as bad as you're thinking. Between the two machines, spybot seek-and-destroy found over 110 pieces of sypware, adbots, and cookie trackers. I also found a couple of zombie IRC bots, MSBlaster, Klez, Yaha, etc, etc, etc.

Spybot search-and-destroy is free (you should try to donate... it is a VERY valuable piece of software), and it makes your job that much easier.

That's two thumbs up from me, dave... highly recommended.

--
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 14:15 · Score: 0

Here's why Ad-Aware is better than Spybot and the other programs that prevents the installation of spyware - Those prevention progs are running in the background and taking up valuable system resources. If there's one thing I don't need on Windows it's yet more crap and cruft that starts at boot-up.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by simcop2387 · 2003-10-08 14:28 · Score: 0

ah thats nothing, my neighbor had been having problems with his computer, Adaware found over 900 things, very few of them cookies since i tought him how to delete them before, and before you say its bunk, he's got 3 teenage daughters who do nothing but surf the web and know very little about computers, i've had to clean up virii many times for him.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by B1ackD0g · 2003-10-08 15:09 · Score: 1

Exactly my experience. Occasionally you have to go to their site and get a new key. A little bit of a hassle, but not really that bad.

--
When I'm feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbor's dog run to the end of his chain and gag himself.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Spleener12 · 2003-10-08 15:47 · Score: 1

My dad, who spends a lot of time on the computer but is not remotely techno-literate, now uses Firebird almost exclusively, mostly because on his (formerly our) crappy old 400MHz K6-2, an assload of popups from IE, and IE's general bloat, slows it down a lot. Firebird makes a huge difference there. He now only uses IE for sites that don't play nice with non-IE browsers.
Thunderbird is a different story; however, Thunderbird is still at 0.2. I use it for my mail, but I don't do much with my mail aside from getting it and reading it and occasionally writing a letter. People who do fancy things with filters and stuff may not like it as much, but it suits my needs just fine.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by davemonkey · 2003-10-08 15:50 · Score: 1

Hmm I tend to disagree, as I find Thunderbird stable and highly useful, if a little eccentric in its UI. But the lack of installer, and any hidden bugs that are yet to surface will likely keep the basic user away until revlease of V 1.0.

I had more problems with Firebird, it can be slowish to load, but the current version is much better, and IMO its more stable than Opera 7.0 and less bulky than Mozilla.

Certainly something to consider for a competent and intermediate user, which the original poster sounds like.

--
Erratically brilliant or brilliantly erratic, I just haven't figured out which yet!
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by ameoba · 2003-10-08 16:08 · Score: 1

Actually, it's a rip-off of a much older game, Tetris Attack, which originally appeared on the SNES.

--
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by rssrss · 2003-10-08 16:09 · Score: 1

I agree with the parent post. I would install Mozilla 1.4 or Netscape 7.1.
If you install Moz 1._ (or Firebird for that matter) you must install Java 1.4.2 from Sun.com separately. Also, if you want a spellschecker, that must be installed separately.
Netscape 7.1, which is Moz 1.4 in drag comes bundled with Java, other plugins and a spellchecker. Unfortunately, 7.1 will be the last Netscape.
I love moz and have used it for about 18 months. But you have to be willing to take a little brain damage to install it and keep it updated.

--
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Alorelith · 2003-10-08 16:15 · Score: 1

An understandable concern, but if you read the webpage I linked to it specifically states that Spyware Blaster doesn't run in the background. Spyware Guard does which is why I don't use it -- I also don't like having too many processes running in the background.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by RoundTop-VJAS · 2003-10-08 17:08 · Score: 1

Couple things..
first off, what version of winamp.. because v3.x is pretty good (not the beta, the full version) and hasn't got memory leaks that I can see (running win2k).
second..why RealOne?! it has got to be one of the biggest pieces of crapola I have seen.. it IS a memory hog, slow, and pervasive..it gets everywhere... it takes over all your file associations without prompting you (which winamp does), sets itself to run automatically at startup (which winamp doesn't), and other wonderful crappy things.

--
RoundTop
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 18:15 · Score: 0

If most people can put up with IE crashes/anomolies

I won't say most people, but I will say many people I know have absolutely NO problems at all with IE.

Mozilla is nice and relatively stable, but compared to Firebird, it feels bloated and slow.

Compared to anything, Mozilla IS bloated and slow, not to mention not nearly as configurable as IE. For those that like to strip IE down to a minimalistic interface, Mozilla is a step down, not a step up.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by retrosteve · 2003-10-08 20:56 · Score: 1

Good thing I posted disclaimers --

First, I don't know the version, it's whatever I downloaded (repeatedly) this spring and summertime from the website. Might have been beta. Sucked memory until the computer died.

Second, I totally believe you that RealOne is all those bad things you say (although it at least
doesn't seem to keep demanding "MORE" memory, it just takes its huge allotment and chugs.) I'm not by any means advertising for it, just trying to be constructive.

And third, I was on Windows NT, YMMV. RealOne seems to work okay, but I'm sure there are plenty others (possibly including the latest WinAmp) that work better.

Thanks for the reply,

Steve
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Dogtanian · 2003-10-08 23:25 · Score: 1

I keep a CD of free Windows software for people (helpful when I build them a new PC.)

Hmm... for a moment there I might have thought you were suggesting "Microsoft Windows XP (h4x0r3d 3di7i0n)"

--
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Wolfrider · 2003-10-08 23:42 · Score: 1

--My first virus was on a 286 with no modem. Form virus, on a 3.5" floppy. Don't just think you're safe, scan the computer regularly and PROVE IT.

--
.
== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by blibbleblobble · 2003-10-08 23:45 · Score: 1

"which program? Just curious."

There was a calendar program on my site, with moon phases, sunrise times, easter dates, sundial generation, etc.

Probably easier to use than Emacs' "Meta-X calendar", but it doesn't do martian sundials!

The first I heard about the OpenCD project was when they started showing up in referer logs.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Dogtanian · 2003-10-09 00:02 · Score: 1

My first virus was on a 286 with no modem. Form virus, on a 3.5" floppy.

Was that the one where the letters fell off the screen? (I never had a PC at that time- don't even think I had my Atari ST then- but I remember it)

Can the author of that virus sue the makers of The Matrix for IP theft (or whatever it's classed as) for the 'falling' letters effect?

--
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by redog · 2003-10-09 01:31 · Score: 1

"such as a network administrator running a virus scanner that scans every computer on the network rather than running a virus scanner on each computer individually."

No competent sysadmin would do something this stoopid.

If you run and anti virus server it is to monitor and upgrade its clients, which ARE running AV monitors.

In the scenerio you suggest once a virus has been introduced to the network you would be subjected to chaseing a virus as it spreads youd use more and more network bandwith scanning/cleaning/chaseing lord help you if the virus it self uses alot of bandwith. Norton's Enterprise AV Server runs as described, as well as Trend Micro's and f-prots. Not to mention the insecurity of a program haveing excluseive read/write access to all computers on the network.
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by PainKilleR-CE · 2003-10-09 01:40 · Score: 1

If you run and anti virus server it is to monitor and upgrade its clients, which ARE running AV monitors.

This is essentially what I meant, though my wording was completely wrong.

Obviously, the idea is that the network administrator can trigger the scan for the computers in the network. If they can't trigger scans and force upgrades than there's little point to even having AV software, because most users won't do it themselves.

In general, the client can handle most of the work, but the user on the client shouldn't even have to know that a scan is in progress (especially if, for instance, the virus was introduced to the network by one of the users).

--
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by redog · 2003-10-09 02:01 · Score: 1

"This is essentially what I meant, though my wording was completely wrong."

Whew!

"Obviously, the idea is that the network administrator can trigger the scan for the computers in the network. If they can't trigger scans and force upgrades than there's little point to even having AV software, because most users won't do it themselves."

My thoughts exactly...
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by PainKilleR-CE · 2003-10-09 03:18 · Score: 1

heh, I blame it on being over-worked, I don't know where the words I had previously typed came from ;) Staring at binary streams all day has warped my brain.

--
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by DarkSarin · 2003-10-09 03:36 · Score: 1

Yes, I am aware of that problem, but i also know when my system starts getting buggy that it could easily be a virus. Honestly, though, I find AVG to be a good tool. Maybe Norton is better, but i wouldn't put money on it. AVG just has a different business model--if you need it for non-commercial, non-network use, then its free. Otherwise it costs. The free version is effective though, since I have seen people run it as well as norton (not something I would do, AV progs don't always like each other), and AVG picked up things that norton didn't.

enough said.

--
"We don't know what we are doing, but we are doing it very carefully,..." Wherry, R.J. Personnel Psychology (1995)
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Eiki · 2003-10-09 09:49 · Score: 1

Lack of installer - HA! Was I the only one that almost jumped out of my seat for joy when I discovered that you could just extract it into whatever directory and GO - like the good old days?!

--
eikimartinson.com
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-10 05:00 · Score: 0

no! SBS&D does not have to run in backround! Although it can, it doesn't have to.You can stop it from prevention, and just zap the installed spyware
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Wolfrider · 2003-10-10 11:20 · Score: 1

--Nope, this was a LONG time ago but IIRC it made your HD partition table go away.

google is your friend tho:
http://www.commandsoftware.com/virus/db/Deta il.cfm ?Caroname=Form.C

--
.
== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by SerpentDrago · 2003-10-10 13:30 · Score: 1

No, I did the same i must admit

I love when you can just unarchive stuff and run it , that is sooo nice :)
Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-14 06:52 · Score: 0

The winamp website defaults to serving you winamp 3. the 2.9 series is IMO stable and non leaky. to get to the old version in the upper right of the winamp webste there will be a mouse over area to tak you to the winamp 2 website.

Kazaa Lite by delphin42 · 2003-10-08 04:32 · Score: 5, Funny

Once you have that, everything else is only a few clicks away...

--
-- Adam

Re:Kazaa Lite by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:34 · Score: 1, Funny

everything else is only a few clicks away...
Including an RIAA subpoena.
Re:Kazaa Lite by WesG · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 1

Whats the best P2P app though..Is it Kazaa???
Re:Kazaa Lite by Sir+Haxalot · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 2, Informative

Once you have that, everything else is only a few clicks away...
Along the same lines... Bittorrent
oh and here's a link to Kazaa Lite

--
I have over 70 freaks, do you?
Re:Kazaa Lite by madcow_ucsb · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 1

I'm a big fan of Shareaza myself.
Re:Kazaa Lite by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:44 · Score: 0

why would the RIAA subpoena someone who was exchanging free-ed software with others?
Re:Kazaa Lite by Eric+Ass+Raymond · 2003-10-08 04:49 · Score: 1

At my university, which shall remain nameless, the use of P2P is a cause for terminating your contract (if you're an employee like me) or revoking your right to study (if you're a student).
It's banned because most of the traffic is illegal and the harm to the legal filetrading is negligible. If you want to transfer large files from your dorm computer to another computer on the campus, you can always use scp/ftp. I can't say that I disagree with this logic.

--
BOO! TERRO
Re:Kazaa Lite by EinarH · 2003-10-08 04:52 · Score: 1

...including all those hash-exploits...

--
Melius mori in libertate quam vivere in servitute.
Re:Kazaa Lite by AaronMB · 2003-10-08 05:07 · Score: 1

Do they ban all p2p apps or do they allow exceptions? For example, something like Furthur is a completely legal P2P network for trading live shows for bands like Phish, the Grateful Dead, Howie Day, etc, all bands who support the trading of their live shows.
Re:Kazaa Lite by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:11 · Score: 0

Dang, they should have called it Shareazaade: a million and one files.
Re:Kazaa Lite by bobKali · 2003-10-08 05:12 · Score: 1

I always associate spyware/RIAA lawsuits with Kazaa. I like LimeWire better - plus as a Java app, I think it's good to support cross-platform software.
Re:Kazaa Lite by Eric+Ass+Raymond · 2003-10-08 05:15 · Score: 1

All P2P. No exceptions because most files traded will be illegal.

--
BOO! TERRO
Re:Kazaa Lite by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:54 · Score: 0

mr ass,

of course its illigal you twit thats what the parent was refering to. people in colleges just need to turn off the upload bandwidth but most students are too stupid to do this. my kazaa hardly ever uses bandwidth because it only downloads what i tell it to and never uploads.
Re:Kazaa Lite by Celt · 2003-10-08 06:45 · Score: 1

Has to be either Bit Torrent or DC++ for me.
now all I need is more harddrive space :-P

--
"WebTV: bringing the Internet into the shallow end of the gene pool since 1995" - Martin Bishop
Re:Kazaa Lite by Joe+Tie. · 2003-10-08 10:30 · Score: 1

Is beer also outlawed? There shouldn't be any exceptions on what recreational drugs are outlawed on campus either by this reasoning. Since most recreational drugs are illegal, legal ones such as beer should be outlawed there as well since most recreational drugs are illegal.

--
Everything will be taken away from you.
Re:Kazaa Lite by Uncle+Gropey · 2003-10-08 10:32 · Score: 1

I'm a fan of Soulseek and WinMX.

--
My blog can kick your blog's ass

Playing Media on Windows by Eric+Ass+Raymond · 2003-10-08 04:32 · Score: 1

Use ZoomPlayer instead of Windows Media Player.

--
BOO! TERRO

Re:Playing Media on Windows by JPM+NICK · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

Isn't Media Player free with his pre-installed copy of Windows XP?? why would you not use the intergrated media player? I think it works great for everyday use. The less sutff you install, the better and more reliable you system will be. I say stick with Media Player.
Re:Playing Media on Windows by GlassUser · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 1

Personally I would lean toward Media Player Classic and the ffdshow MPEG4 codec (both free/beer). I have them packaged in an MSI around here somewhere.

--
funny munging
Re:Playing Media on Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:40 · Score: 0

Everything Microsoft has put out since media player 6.4 has been bloated shitware. Even on Windows 2000 I still use 6.4

I have no use for visual effects or a UI that would make a grown up run screaming.
Re:Playing Media on Windows by Eric+Ass+Raymond · 2003-10-08 04:41 · Score: 1

The trouble with Media Player is that it's hugely uncomfortable to use and eats screen real estate like crazy.
At least I can't resize the skinned mode window when I'm watching DVD or DivX. I have to use either the full mode or watch video in the encoded size.

--
BOO! TERRO
Re:Playing Media on Windows by moonbender · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 1

Because both ZoomPlayer and especially Media Player Classic (mentioned by a poster below) are far better players than WMP in mostly every respect. Of course, not everybody will require a better player. But it certainly won't hurt to install MPC - not that you really need to install it, it's just an executable, doesn't even need it's own directory.

I really don't think a system is generally "better" or more reliable the less software you install. Quite to the contrary, I'd say the less a system relies on Microsoft programs the more reliable it is. ;) On a more serious note, I really do doubt "installing" MPC will do anything at all to the overall reliability. Some software can do pretty terrible things to the system - like Real Player, infamously - but MPC isn't one of them. And the days that every program was a danger to your stability are at least according to my experience thankfully gone.

Note that ffdshow, also mentioned below, is a more problematic piece of software. It's great, but unlike MPC, it's system software, and screwing with codecs without knowing what you're doing can lead to a really borked system. :)

--
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
Re:Playing Media on Windows by stfvon007 · 2003-10-08 04:59 · Score: 1

Ive had problems with both zoomplayer (crashes if i try to play) and Windows media player (Have to reboot if i exit and want to watch another movie, or it will crash) under windows 98. (the XP player works well though).The free video players I like are the DIVx player and winamp3. Niether of these have given me any trouble.

--
All misspellings and grammatical errors in the above post are intentional and part of my artistic expression.
Re:Playing Media on Windows by nolife · 2003-10-08 05:08 · Score: 1

Or mediaplayer classic.

--
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
Re:Playing Media on Windows by JPM+NICK · 2003-10-08 05:36 · Score: 1

I would disagree with you in one respect. I have taken many operating system classes as well as doing develpment for an internal company build. Components intergrated with an OS usually are more stable. I am not stating that they are better products. But with all the freeware/shareware out there, there are a lot more chances that some rogue code may cause your computer instabilty by causing a memory leak or conflict or some sort. That is the reason I would suggest staying with WMP.

You did bring up a good point about real player. Is Media Player Classic the same thing as running mplayer2 from the command prompt? That is the classic skin for Media Player. I am not familiar with the product, but I will take your advice and check it out, but I am holding you responsible for any system crashes!!! Cheers!

By the way, your sig is great
Re:Playing Media on Windows by moonbender · 2003-10-08 08:47 · Score: 1

I think I can agree or at least hope that system software is more stable and less buggy than non-system software, since system (dare I say kernel mode) software can do a lot more harm than normal (dare I say user mode) software. Note that, system software, I'm referring to software working closely with the system (drivers and such), not software shipping with the system! So WMP is not system software, just like MPC isn't. Or maybe WMP is, since it might tie into the system core in some ways, but that's not a good thing, since it can do a lot more harm that way. Such harms could include hard-locking a computer - although I haven't seen that happen in a while.

Anyway, both Media Player Classic and ffdshow strike me as rather stable software, both are released as open source (ie neither Free- nor Shareware). Certainly, both seem unlikely to do real harm to any system, especially since they are not typically used in critical situations - when watching a movie, a crash is annoying, but not exactly life-threatening. Even a small memory leak isn't a very serious issue, you close the program and it's gone - it's not like it's a server daemon running 24/7. Nevertheless, it has never happened to me with either software, the worst that happened is that some movies refused to display correctly due to major confusion inside Windows as to what codec to use for what. (MPC helped tremendously in that regard, incidently.) And that's where I see the main/only potential trouble with ffdshow - if idiots configure it, they can kind of screw up the Windows codec settings, or at least this idiot managed to do so.

Moving on, MPC is not a Media Player skin, although it's unsurprisingly often thought to be. It's interface looks a lot like the old media player/mplayer2.exe - that is, no nonsense, but that's where the resemblance ends. For one thing, it can play real media and quick time (full-screen!) contents, given the installed libraries. It can also be controlled using arbitrary set-up controls, infra-red, has great support for sub-titles, incredible control over codecs, great performance and a small footprint.

Terribly sorry for this overly long post. Glad you like my signature.

--
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
Re:Playing Media on Windows by JPM+NICK · 2003-10-08 09:42 · Score: 1

Great Tip for MPC!! sounds like a great piece of software. I am going to download it tonight. Hope it runs well on XP. Thanks again!!
Re:Playing Media on Windows by moonbender · 2003-10-08 09:56 · Score: 1

That's what I am using it in. The program's home seems to be its SourceForge page for the moment, since the author's homepage is under reconstruction and has been for a while. For XP, you want this file. Just extract anywhere and use at your own leisure. Uses the registry to save its settings, file associations can be set up from within the preferences.

Glad to be of help, recommending software has to be every geeks favorite job. ;)

--
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
Re:Playing Media on Windows by purple+pixel · 2003-10-08 15:13 · Score: 1

Why is it that windows can be so greatly affected by seemingly insignificant programs that are installed?

A media player is a media player.
Linux doesnt care if you install thousands of them. They only run in user space and they're all installed in /usr , not touching anything else in the system...

I never understood why this was such a problem in windows. :-)

Mozilla for mail and browser by redog · 2003-10-08 04:32 · Score: 1

Does calendar too, need an irc client? yep mozilla

Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by pixelgeek · 2003-10-08 04:34 · Score: 1

-- Does calendar too, need an irc client? yep mozilla

Hmmmmmm...bloatware.
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by Irishman · 2003-10-08 04:35 · Score: 1

I see someone beat me to suggesting Mozilla :)

The mail program works well, as does the newsreader. The browser displays just about every page out there quite nicely. Multiple user support is good and it is quite easy to lock it down/configure it as needed, a very important feature for a family application (at least for some).
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by StarManta · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 1

It has a calendar? Huh? Heh, I use Mozilla chat Net and email... works VERY well. And no, it's not bloatware. All these extra features come only when you call them... not clogging the popup menus and such, like ICQ or MSN.

--
StarManta
I don't think BMW has ever complained about their 2% marketshare. Neither has Apple.
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by ospirata · 2003-10-08 04:52 · Score: 1

I do like Mozilla Full Suite too, but for Instant Messages you show try Gaim.
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by redog · 2003-10-08 04:59 · Score: 2, Insightful

Popup blocker too, and DOM viewer/editor. Whats more he could use a fatfs to store his profile for the linux and windows side and not miss a beat.

Bloat, mabe. But he wants it limited to 10. Mozilla can account for browser mail and popup stopping very compeditively. Hows the ford commercial go? If you havent looked at a mozilla lately look again.
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by redog · 2003-10-08 05:11 · Score: 1

Yes it has a calendar, as well as alot more optional "bloat."

IIRC The calendar installs by default in windows versions prior to 2000. 2000 and XP you must manualy install.

Bloat good for the soul
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by pixelgeek · 2003-10-08 05:16 · Score: 1

I am of the impression that if you try to do everything then you'll just manage to do a poor job at a large series of tasks.

I'd much rather have dedicated apps that focus on performing one task very well than one app that tries a Swiss Army Knife approach.
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by PainKilleR-CE · 2003-10-08 05:24 · Score: 1

Look at Firebird and stay very far away from the bloated Mozilla app suite.

Use just about anything else for email, though I haven't touched Mozilla's mail client in years, everyone has their own requirements for them anyway. If Mozilla mail works for you, try Thunderbird rather than the app suite. Nothing's worse than the amount of crap the suite installs on your system.

--
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:25 · Score: 0

www.mozilla.org - you can get them all as seperate applications you troll
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by mark_lybarger · 2003-10-08 06:39 · Score: 1

they're fairly dedicated apps that all work together and look the same. kinda the same domain as ms office.
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by ocelotbob · 2003-10-08 07:25 · Score: 1

Hrnn, considering that all of the non-browser components of mozilla are optional installs, that doesn't sound like bloat to me. The useful thing about mozilla is that it offers all of these pieces, but at the same time, doesn't cram them down your throat.
And your lame arguement that one project can't produce quality on more than one front doesn't hold water either. Or do Apple, MS, et al suck as well? After all, they've got developers working on more than one project at any given time.

--
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by redog · 2003-10-08 07:47 · Score: 1

"Nothing's worse than the amount of crap the suite installs on your system."

I'd say any version of windows is worse. Not to mention new.net, or gator, how about MS office thats definatly worse, quicktime and its download manager?! Cmon mozilla's suite is not nearly as bad as you make it out to be.

"Use just about anything else for email, though I haven't touched Mozilla's mail client in years,"

Ouch! why not suggest Outlook or incredimail already, can you say virus prone! You admitedly know nothing about the newest version of thunderbird yet are instructing a user to use ANYthing else!

"everyone has their own requirements for them anyway."

Like what? checking viru.. I mean mail?

Thunderbird has a built in bayes filter to learn what each user thinks is junk mail, combine this with messagewall and or spamassassin and you have a very reliable spam trap.
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by pixelgeek · 2003-10-08 11:50 · Score: 1

-- And your lame arguement that one project can't
-- produce quality on more than one front doesn't
-- hold water either.

And your supporting argument is?

Comparing Mozilla to Apple and MS isn't the same thing. Mozilla uses the same application framework and UI conventions for different applications. As crappy as an app like Outlook is it does use a UI that is different than Word.

That said, I think Office forces some ofg the some homogeneous UI conventions on apps like Excel adn word where they don't necessarily apply either so in the case of MS your comparison does have some merit.

I'm not saying that they can't do a good job, just that I can't see how a "one-size -fits-all" approach will be as good as a dedicated application that tailors its development to a single task.
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by pixelgeek · 2003-10-08 11:53 · Score: 1

-- kinda the same domain as ms office.

Sorry. Is that comment supporting your argument or mine? ;-)
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by NateTech · 2003-10-08 16:36 · Score: 1

My God...

Mozilla's morphing into Xemacs!

--
+++OK ATH
Re:Mozilla for mail and browser by PainKilleR-CE · 2003-10-08 23:15 · Score: 1

I'd say any version of windows is worse. Not to mention new.net, or gator, how about MS office thats definatly worse, quicktime and its download manager?! Cmon mozilla's suite is not nearly as bad as you make it out to be.

Would anyone willingly install new.net or gator? No, I think not, half the people making recommendations in this thread are including programs that will remove that stuff. MS Office at least gives you choices during the installation process and installs only what's selected. Quicktime doesn't even belong on a non-Apple system, though it's unavoidable if you absolutely must view Sorenson-encoded material. When I install a browser, I expect a browser, hence I use Firebird. If I want email, IRC, calender, WinAmp, etc, I'll install them on my own.

Ouch! why not suggest Outlook or incredimail already, can you say virus prone! You admitedly know nothing about the newest version of thunderbird yet are instructing a user to use ANYthing else!

Use Thunderbird itself rather than the Mozilla suite. I, personally, do use Outlook, because it works for my purposes, and no, I never have had a virus, isn't that interesting?

Like what? checking viru.. I mean mail?

Thunderbird has a built in bayes filter to learn what each user thinks is junk mail, combine this with messagewall and or spamassassin and you have a very reliable spam trap.

Must be nice if those are your requirements. The only filters I use on my mail are to seperate incoming mail based on sender and what address it was sent to. Junk mail/spam simply isn't a problem on my accounts.

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-PainKilleR-[CE]

Windows XP by inertia187 · 2003-10-08 04:32 · Score: 5, Funny

All I know is that Windows XP is the best $300 game of Solitaire I've ever played.

--
A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.

Re:Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:34 · Score: 0

I would rather pay the $300 for Solitare than nothing for KillBill and Othello.

Moron, troll elsewhere.
Re:Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 0

You're just an AC on /.. What do you know?
Re:Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 0

It's XBill, you idiot.
Re:Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 0

That's nothing!!

After a few days, my XP workstation gave off the most soothing blue mood light. So I left it that way and it gives the room an eerie glow.
Re:Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:52 · Score: 0

If you're on Mac OS X, go to the terminal and type bill gates and hit enter. It'll ask you if you want to kill gates!
Re:Windows XP by 101percent · 2003-10-08 04:55 · Score: 1

Amen to that brother!
Re:Windows XP by Omega697 · 2003-10-08 05:26 · Score: 1

You payed $300 for WindowsXP?
Re:Windows XP by Sloppy · 2003-10-08 05:52 · Score: 1

Does it run under Wine? WineX?

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As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Re:Windows XP by dosius · 2003-10-08 06:17 · Score: 1

kpat > sol.exe (and they're both Klondike Solitaire games).

-uso.

--
What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
Re:Windows XP by TopShelf · 2003-10-08 06:51 · Score: 1

Don't forget, you get pinball and Minesweeper too - that makes it only $100 each!

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Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Re:Windows XP by tntguy · 2003-10-08 07:43 · Score: 1

PySol; Free software wins again.
Re:Windows XP by EverDense · 2003-10-08 09:42 · Score: 1

Imagine the Solitaire source code maintainer at Microsoft punching the air at your comment.

"Take that OpenBSD! Windows Solitaire: No Exploits Since 1990".

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http://jesus.everdense.com/
Re:Windows XP by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 09:49 · Score: 1

Here's what all you get with XP:
Solitaire
Minesweeper
Pinball
Hearts
Spid er Solitaire
Internet Hearts ... Checkers ... Backgammon
and there might be a few more.
Re:Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:03 · Score: 0

Try Hardwood Solitaire from Silver Creek Productions.
You'll never play Windows Solitaire again.
Create your own desk of cards and use those or download hundreds of decks already created by others.
I don't install any Windows games and it's one of the biggest reasons I don't boot to Linux very often.
Re:Windows XP by inertia187 · 2003-10-08 10:09 · Score: 1

Like this?

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A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
Re:Windows XP by Nucleon500 · 2003-10-08 10:23 · Score: 1

Three for the price of one!

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Litigious bastards
Re:Windows XP by Joe+Tie. · 2003-10-08 11:00 · Score: 1

I can't say if this might have changed, but it did work at one time at least with a plain wine install. I remember making, as a joke during a desktop thread, a screenshot with windows paint and solitaire running via wine.

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Everything will be taken away from you.
Re:Windows XP by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 13:44 · Score: 0

You BOUGHT Windows XP? Wow. I thought they were free (w/serial) on the FastTrack network...

mozilla & cygwin by shakah · 2003-10-08 04:33 · Score: 2, Insightful

cygwin for the Windows-side of things, of course.

Re:mozilla & cygwin by xanadu-xtroot.com · 2003-10-08 04:41 · Score: 1

Why in the hell would someone want to fork out the cash to buy Win* just to fork out the cash to get something better than 56K just to download *NIX (esentially)????

--
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
Re:mozilla & cygwin by maxume · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 2, Informative

I tend to prefer unxutils and MinGw.
Why depend on cygwin, when msvcrt is already gonna be there?

--
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Re:mozilla & cygwin by shakah · 2003-10-08 04:57 · Score: 1

Do you use unxutils's sh.exe for a shell?

Is it really a zsh port?

If you were a ksh/bash user before, how painful was the switch to zsh, switching back-and-forth between them, etc.?
Re:mozilla & cygwin by gpinzone · 2003-10-08 05:16 · Score: 1

You can set up a SSH server for one. Compile code with gcc. In general, a real "Linuxy" feel rather than a few windows ports of unix utils like grep.
Re:mozilla & cygwin by dasmegabyte · 2003-10-08 05:25 · Score: 4, Insightful

Uhh, no. Not for a home user. Home users want to USE software, not write it, not compile it. Pretty much anything you'd want to do as a home user is better done using the standard Windows GUI, or (god forbid), DOS. Shit, I'm a developer and I still prefer the old Dos commands to Cygwin...it just seems so kludgy. Windows isn't UN*X like in most of the ways that are important (different threading, different hardware interface, different file systems, different security model), so I see no reason to have a seperate, non-Windows system for performing file operations, etc. Unless you've got a really good reason for emulating Linux on windows (like a bunch of legacy apps on a server), it's just confusing.

Since the machine has Mandrake installed for the dual boot, it makes sense that users savvy enough to want the extensibility and control of a UN*X like system are going to reboot anyway. That gross green CYGWIN icon can only confuse the people you don't want confused.

--
Hey freaks: now you're ju
Re:mozilla & cygwin by maxume · 2003-10-08 05:41 · Score: 1

not a linux user. but I got used to typing 'ls' and a couple of other commands in school, and like having them around. cmd.exe is enough for what I do, and with tab completion turned on, fairly bearable...

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Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Re:mozilla & cygwin by shakah · 2003-10-08 05:56 · Score: 1

I really miss "back-ticking" when using cmd.exe, though, which is why I use cygwin/bash.

However, I do agree with you that with tab completion (along with an "MS_DOS Prompt from here" right-click explorer menu extension) it's bearable.
Re:mozilla & cygwin by chemindefer · 2003-10-08 10:33 · Score: 1

If you use Moz on both OS's, you should be able to use the Profiles on both via a symlink. I've found that many newbies like Moz, the integration makes it easy to send pages and open received links in New Tabs. Having the same Browser/Email interface on both could help with migration therapy.
Re:mozilla & cygwin by ncr53c8xx · 2003-10-08 16:27 · Score: 1

Uhh, no. Not for a home user. Home users want to USE software, not write it, not compile it.

Fair enough.

Pretty much anything you'd want to do as a home user is better done using the standard Windows GUI, or (god forbid), DOS. Shit, I'm a developer and I still prefer the old Dos commands to Cygwin...it just seems so kludgy.

How would you do something like--find all the zip files in a directory which have errors and move them some place else? You will be forced to download some "utility" everytime something like that happens.

Windows isn't UN*X like in most of the ways that are important (different threading, different hardware interface, different file systems, different security model), so I see no reason to have a seperate, non-Windows system for performing file operations, etc.

Why should it bother you if you are not a developer?

Since the machine has Mandrake installed for the dual boot, it makes sense that users savvy enough to want the extensibility and control of a UN*X like system are going to reboot anyway.

Why torture them when they use Windows?
Re:mozilla & cygwin by DMUTPeregrine · 2003-10-08 17:13 · Score: 1

Mozilla firebird and such are probably not good, but mozilla 1.4 or 1.5 (when it comes out) are great and quite easy to use. They come as binaries, and mozilla can block popups. It's got some nice plugins, and I'd particularly reccomend prefbar. Just enable the "popups", killflash, and font+/- buttons, and then all the annoying stuff can be made to dissapear. Font+/- is most useful with older ppl sharing the computer. Just click it a few times, and wham, easy to read webpages. IE is also far less secure than mozilla. However, CYGWIN is not ideal for a home user. An experienced home user, yes, but your average user, no. It's a good tool to be able to use bash, regexpressions, KDE on Cygwin, but with a dual boot system most of the uses go away. It's only good for the speed (rebooting can take a while.) Instead of CYGWIN, get the UNIXUtils from sourceforge. You just get the ones you want, and then you can use the fancy things from your dos prompt, or CYGWIN if you installed it.

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Not a sentence!
Re:mozilla & cygwin by dasmegabyte · 2003-10-08 17:32 · Score: 1

find all the zip files in a directory which have errors and move them some place else? You will be forced to download some "utility" everytime something like that happens.

Forgetting some of the more awesome scripting languages supported in Windows since 1998 (VBScript and JScript natively, but windows scripting host has python, ruby and perl plugins), you can do this quite easily with dos batch functions. Dir the files, loop through the results, do a zip -t and move the files that don't return 0. It's about 5 lines in a batch file, or you can do it at the command line with a few colons. Of course, if you're not savvy enough to write this code using a batch file, you're also not savvy enough to write it as a shell script...the logic is the same, even if the syntax is different. And it's because of this lack of savvy-ness that you'll need to download a tool. If you use Windows, chances are there has been something written to do this. If you use Linux, somebody will probably tell you to write a script. Recursion isn't just for acronyms!

You may not know it, but Microsoft's procedural programming tools are very advanced and have been since 1989...even if there's no camel on the front of the instruction guide. WSH gives you everything you want...regular expressions, an interface to COM objects and the windows API, and some basic GUI tools. I have built entire applications out of WSH. Shit, there have been many critical VIRUSES written in WSH. With all this power available in the majority of windows installations, there is no need for an add-on command shell unless you are really well versed in said shell and couldn't live without it.

I do prefer bash scripting, but i think downloading a seperate environment just for a more comfortable scripting is like buying a new car because you like the color. Besides, diversity is what makes a programmer.

--
Hey freaks: now you're ju
Re:mozilla & cygwin by ncr53c8xx · 2003-10-08 19:23 · Score: 1

Forgetting some of the more awesome scripting languages supported in Windows since 1998

It is awesome according to Microsoft definitions like innovation.

(VBScript and JScript natively, but windows scripting host has python, ruby and perl plugins)

Of course, you will have to install the perl, python, and ruby packages yourself (did I mention that ActiveState installer needs the latest and greatest service packs installed?). In any case WSH is the only thing installed by default.

And it's because of this lack of savvy-ness that you'll need to download a tool. If you use Windows, chances are there has been something written to do this.

The big problem is that today any tool, while it is not shareware or nagware, will have some ads and spy stuff built into it. Since you don't have the source anyway, you can't even check that.

If you use Linux, somebody will probably tell you to write a script.

More likely they will post a code snippet (which has been my experience in these matters).

You may not know it, but Microsoft's procedural programming tools are very advanced and have been since 1989...even if there's no camel on the front of the instruction guide. WSH gives you everything you want...regular expressions, an interface to COM objects and the windows API, and some basic GUI tools. I have built entire applications out of WSH. Shit, there have been many critical VIRUSES written in WSH. With all this power available in the majority of windows installations, there is no need for an add-on command shell unless you are really well versed in said shell and couldn't live without it.

WSH isn't easy to use at all. And for the virus comment, when I was looking around on the net for tutorials and such for general system maintainence tasks, all I found was scripts which let you mail everyone in your addressbook. :-)

I do prefer bash scripting, but i think downloading a seperate environment just for a more comfortable scripting is like buying a new car because you like the color. Besides, diversity is what makes a programmer.

I am don't have a scripting fetish, I just want to get work done. With Cygwin, I get all the UNIX tools for a few MB, without knowing much of any programming. sed G myfile.txt | fold -s -w 60 |less gives me my document reader, and I have been trying forever to do that in WSH.
Re:mozilla & cygwin by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-09 22:30 · Score: 0

One word: Makefiles. Shell compatibility is golden for complex makefiles.

MySQL... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:33 · Score: 1, Interesting

...for easy categorization of pr0n collections.

Re:MySQL... by greenhide · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 2, Funny

Yeah, really frikkin interesting.

Jeez, do mods even READ?!?

If you have to mod this up, mod it funny. And I guess it's sorta funny, in a kind of "Oh look. A pron joke" way.

*sigh*...

--
Karma: Chevy Kavalierma.
Re:MySQL... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:55 · Score: 0

I dunno - personally I find XP's built-in thumbnailer works nicely. :p
Re:MySQL... by slaker · 2003-10-08 05:48 · Score: 1

You've obviously never tried it on a directory with 200,000 images in it.

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-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
Re:MySQL... by orthogonal · 2003-10-08 06:32 · Score: 1

You've obviously never tried it on a directory with 200,000 images in it.

Studying, uh, "comparative anatomy" again?

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Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Re:MySQL... by slaker · 2003-10-08 11:15 · Score: 1

That comment imples that I've stopped at some point, which is emphatically not the case.

4.1 million images and counting. :)

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-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K

Browser Suggestion by hoagieslapper · 2003-10-08 04:33 · Score: 1

I used Mozilla for my web browser at home it suits all of my browsing needs.

Re:Browser Suggestion by Sir+Haxalot · 2003-10-08 04:39 · Score: 1

I used Mozilla for my web browser at home it suits all of my browsing needs.
Surely if you're only using it for browsing you should use Firebird instead?

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I have over 70 freaks, do you?
Re:Browser Suggestion by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:47 · Score: 0

I used both Mozilla and Firebird. Mozilla I use at work in Windows. Firebird I use at home in Linux. That said, Mozilla 1.4 is buggy as hell (as was 1.3), I recommend use an older stable version like 1.2. 1.5 is better than 1.4, but still has some weird bugs (yes, they have been reported).

I find Mozilla to have a few features that are lacking in Firebird.
Re:Browser Suggestion by WegianWarrior · 2003-10-08 05:16 · Score: 1

I muchly prefer Opera for browsing Has a simple mailclient built in too, and is free for personal use. What more can you want? Avilable for Windows, Linux, MacOS, OS/2, Solaris, FreeBDS (I thought that was dead?), QNX and EPOC.

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Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
Re:Browser Suggestion by DA-MAN · 2003-10-08 09:17 · Score: 1

Can't say I've ever heard of FreeBDS before. Is it any good?

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Dog House Forum
Re:Browser Suggestion by ocelotbob · 2003-10-08 19:23 · Score: 1

What more can you want?

A browser available for the sexy SGI box I've got. :3

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Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses

Mozilla by TimCrider · 2003-10-08 04:33 · Score: 1, Informative

I've been using Mozilla firebird for my main browser and it's been really solid.

I also use Mozilla thunderbird for my email, and have been really happy with it.

You can get them from mozilla.org

Re:Mozilla by frankthechicken · 2003-10-08 04:39 · Score: 1

Firebird/Mozilla definately, my favorite browsers, but Thunderbird is still far too flaky for use in my opinion.

The only other free software I use is the eclipse editor, which I find fantastic to use, both in terms of reliability and usablilty.
Re:Mozilla by indros · 2003-10-08 04:39 · Score: 1

I have to concur wiht TimCrider's suggestion. I've been using FireBird & ThunderBird for several months now.

There is one exception however. My employer's timesheet website is just so screwed up it only works with IE.

Other than that, they are outstanding.
Re:Mozilla by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:34 · Score: 0

Firebird is not ready for production use, and Thunderbird is barely an alpha! I wouldn't exactly recommend pre-alpha software to my grand mother.

ad-aware by HaveBlue34 · 2003-10-08 04:33 · Score: 2, Informative

ad-aware, free for private use.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Obviously by gerf · 2003-10-08 04:33 · Score: 1

Mozilla, and its components. However, do you want to be able to access the same emails from each OS? would you need a third partition for this sort of data perhaps?

Re:Obviously by wampus · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 1

IMAP or webmail is also usable in this situation. My (free) email provider has IMAP, POP3, and WebMail set up. I use IMAP on my clients at home, so things stay sync'ed between OS's and I can still check my mail from whereever with their decent webmail interface.
Re:Obviously by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:47 · Score: 0

Actually, using the wonders of symlinks, you can share a common mozilla profile between a windows and linux partition (assuming no NTFS).
Re:Obviously by phre4k · 2003-10-08 04:53 · Score: 1

I have kind of the same setup as you. Do you know a way so emails stay on the server, but also kept locally so in case of server breakdown. i don't lose my emails. Imap (In evolution) doesn't give me the ability to save a copy on the disk. If i use pop3 will every email remain on the server even those i delete. Do you know a setup for my problem that works with evolution?
/Phre4k

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"Nobody really checks their email any more. They just delete their spam"
Re:Obviously by mechugena · 2003-10-08 05:02 · Score: 1

I've been using the latest version of Eudora to access my IMAP e-mail, and it's been really good about keeping copies of my e-mail offline. There are times that I need to open a message while sitting in my evening class, but there's no network connectivity. Eudora always has it there for me.
Re:Obviously by nolife · 2003-10-08 05:17 · Score: 1

Backup your maildir on your IMAP server? A simple tar command will do that for you and you can move and store the resulting file to any PC or burn it to a cd for safe keeping. Doing that elimiates using a specific mail client that provides that functionality which kind of defeats the purpose of using IMAP in the first place. As long as the IMAP format does not make any drastic changes in the future, you will always be able to restore that mail and read it again with any future mail client, or notepad and pico if you want to.
Using a client to back it up would more then likely make your backup proprietary and not as easy to get back into another IMAP server later.

--
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
Re:Obviously by wampus · 2003-10-08 05:19 · Score: 1

Try fetchmail with its keep messages on server option. Its been a long time since I've used it, so I don't remember how to set it up, but it should work for backing up messages locally.
Re:Obviously by phre4k · 2003-10-08 19:50 · Score: 1

The server runs windows and i don't have access to the filesystem. Do you think that all mail-servers use the same format internally?

--
"Nobody really checks their email any more. They just delete their spam"
Re:Obviously by phre4k · 2003-10-08 19:52 · Score: 1

Yeah, but fetchmail fetches all the mails. I only want to keep the undeleted emails on the server.

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"Nobody really checks their email any more. They just delete their spam"

Opera! by Marx_Mrvelous · 2003-10-08 04:33 · Score: 4, Insightful

Opera has climbed into my "must get everyone using" category. I think it's a fantastic product and deserves a lot of attention.

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Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!

Re:Opera! by Sir+Haxalot · 2003-10-08 04:42 · Score: 1

Opera has climbed into my "must get everyone using" category. I think it's a fantastic product and deserves a lot of attention.
Why use Opera when Firbird uses less memory, is faster and open source?

--
I have over 70 freaks, do you?
Re:Opera! by danielsfca2 · 2003-10-08 04:44 · Score: 1

Opera's pretty good, but Mozilla Firebird is approximately as good, and free. And always getting better.
And, not that it's relevant in this particular case, they even keep their Mac and Linux builds up to the same version as their Windows builds.
Re:Opera! by self+assembled+struc · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 0

God Opera is a piece of crap.

The only useful thing about Opera is the WML support built in.

It's user-interface is a nightmare of confusing options, too much cutter and annoying configuration. When I install something I shouldn't have to spent two hours making it useable. It should just work.

Also, it still doesn't fully support all the standards well (CSS and DHTML support still lack) and it's mac build is worse than the mac build of firebird.
Re:Opera! by MikeCapone · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 1

Amen! Firebird is great and getting better.

I'm currently using a release candidate for version 0.7 and it r0xx0rs.

Opera is neat too, but not free, not open-source... So between the two, it's no contest for me.

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Treehugger? Treehugger... Treehugger!
Re:Opera! by yerricde · 2003-10-08 04:49 · Score: 1

Are you sure that Mozilla Firebird has a smaller disk and RAM footprint and draws pages more quickly than Opera 7? What does this pro-Opera page get wrong?

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Will I retire or break 10K?
Re:Opera! by Liselle · 2003-10-08 04:50 · Score: 1

Either of them work well, but having used them both, I prefer Opera for my own use. I really like the M2 mail client, the customizability, and little things like mouse gestures, popup control, fast-forward, personalized style sheets, etc. It can do everything I want it to do, and a slew of things I never even knew existed (open all 30 of my webcomics at once? neat!). Opera isn't free, but they have an ad-supported version which works just fine.

Can't go wrong with Mozilla, though. Pretty much everything, even Netscape, is better than MSIE. IE has one advantage over the rest, but I've learned to deal without it (why, Google, WHY?).

--
Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
Re:Opera! by Lord+Kholdan · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 1

For the love of $deity, shouldn't we work on answering the question of the ask slashdot-guy based upon his premisises (free is good.) and not try to to make choices based on ideological ground? He wants free beer, not free speech software. Some people might not like it but if you're saying he should get OSS because you prefer it out of ideological reason you're not trying to help him, you're trying to push your personal agenda.

And apologies to danielsfca2, this post isn't aimed against you but this was the best place for it.
Re:Opera! by Sir+Haxalot · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 1

Are you sure that Mozilla Firebird has a smaller disk and RAM footprint and draws pages more quickly than Opera 7? What does this pro-Opera page get wrong?
It's a pro-Opera page, you answered your own question ;)

--
I have over 70 freaks, do you?
Re:Opera! by jez9999 · 2003-10-08 05:01 · Score: 1

Another problem I have with Mozilla (dunno about Opera) is that Shockwave doesn't seem to want to install in it. You try to install Shockwave but the next time Mozilla loads it just comes up with the 'you need Shockwave plugin' thing again.

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== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Re:Opera! by Bridog · 2003-10-08 05:15 · Score: 1

I looked at Opera a while back and found it to be extremely fast a page loading/rendering. I don't know how it compares to the current Mozilla.

My concern was that Opera could not handle multiple windows at the time. It could, but it was program-based rather than window-manager-based, so you could create a new browser window but it was bounded by the Opera `desktop'. This is entirely unacceptable, IMHO, especially when I have 20 browser windows open simultaneously and they need to be spread out to multiple desktops. At the time, then, the only way to use Opera was to load 14 copies of the thing, and then it wasn't such a good deal.

Is this still the way it is, or have things changed?

--
Most likely the #1 Unfunny Meta/Moderator on /.!
Re:Opera! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:15 · Score: 0

Well, for almost all the features of Opera you have mentioned, Mozilla/Firebird either have built-in support, or just install an extension.

Yes, even Google toolbar!
Re:Opera! by Marx_Mrvelous · 2003-10-08 05:20 · Score: 1

What you're referring to is the "tabbed browsing" option, which Opera pioneered (and has been implemented in most (read: non-IE) browsers. But as far as I know, it was always an option, and you can turn it off and have it behave like a "normal" web browser.

--

Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!
Re:Opera! by John_Booty · 2003-10-08 05:22 · Score: 1

Another problem I have with Mozilla (dunno about Opera) is that Shockwave doesn't seem to want to install in it. You try to install Shockwave but the next time Mozilla loads it just comes up with the 'you need Shockwave plugin' thing again.

A lot of plugins' installer programs won't automatically find Firebird's (or other alternative browsers') plugin directory. In Firebird's case, you just need to get the Netscape-compatible plugin, and manually copy "shockwave.dll" or whatever to the plugins subdirectory where Firebird is installed. For me it's "C:\Program Files\MozillaFirebird\plugins" but obviously yours might be someplace different.

I haven't used Opera much in a couple of years, but it was the same way.

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OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
Re:Opera! by John_Booty · 2003-10-08 05:33 · Score: 1

IE has one advantage over the rest, but I've learned to deal without it (why, Google, WHY?).

I guess you're referring to the Google Toolbar? Yep, I can't live without that either. Both Opera and Mozilla/Firebird have a basic version of this built-in, and there is a full-fledged workalike available for Mozilla/Firebird. So you don't need to do without any longer. :D

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OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
Re:Opera! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:36 · Score: 0

God Opera is a piece of crap.

Yeah it is, if by crappy you mean highly customizable (editable .ini's for everything), thin, fast as hell and a developer base that listens to and implements user design wishlists, mouse gestures (that rock my world)...etc...
Re:Opera! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:44 · Score: 0

They've changed. You can now open new windows, not just new tab, from the menu or by keyboard shortcuts. Shift-clicking or Ctrl-Shift-clicking a link still opens in a new tab by default, as do automatically opened windows. I don't know if you can change it, since the default is my prefered mode of operations anyway.
Re:Opera! by 101percent · 2003-10-08 06:28 · Score: 1

This may be worth checking out. http://googlebar.mozdev.org/
Re:Opera! by 101percent · 2003-10-08 06:31 · Score: 1

Please buy your children books and stop allowing them to play those stupid shockwave games where they simulate shooting at celebrities with various obnoxious weapons. Problem solved.
Re:Opera! by MrHanky · 2003-10-08 06:45 · Score: 2, Insightful

Until Firebird gets faster and uses less memory, why not use Opera? Really - the version of MozillaFirebird in Debian Sid uses more memory than Opera, even when Moz is just started, only has one window showing about:blanc and Opera has two windows and is used for this posting. The difference isn't staggering, though. Use what you like best.
Re:Opera! by JCholewa · 2003-10-08 08:07 · Score: 1

> My concern was that Opera could not handle multiple windows at the time. It could, but it was
> program-based rather than window-manager-based, so you could create a new browser window but it
> was bounded by the Opera `desktop'. This is entirely unacceptable, IMHO, especially when I
> have 20 browser windows open simultaneously and they need to be spread out to multiple desktops.
> At the time, then, the only way to use Opera was to load 14 copies of the thing, and then it wasn't
> such a good deal.

There are two ways to do this in Opera. First, you could set it so that it opens every single page in a separate window (Preferences-->Window-->Open pages in new window), or you could use it in the sane, MDI-way but occasionally open a separate window with CTRL-ALT-N or File-->"New Window".

--
-JC
Re:Opera! by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 10:19 · Score: 1

No, it only started to be available (SDI mode) in Opera 6. Tabbed browsing, IMO, is now the only way to browse the Internet. I STILL find myself mousing up to the "New" button, only to find it's not there on IE6, and mousing up to where the tabs are, only to remember IE6 is SDI, not MDI.
Re:Opera! by NoNine · 2003-10-08 12:56 · Score: 1

I am so sick of Opera hype that I have to say Nein !! I have paid for, and used, version 3.x. I gave up because it had so many bugs. I heard that it got better, then paid for, and used, 6.x and nothing had changed! Trying to get support, was a joke. Save your money and get a real browser like Firebird!
Re:Opera! by fbg111 · 2003-10-08 12:57 · Score: 1

Second that. Best tabbed browsing, best interface, best features, and faster than IE.

--
Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
Re:Opera! by xenobyte · 2003-10-08 19:51 · Score: 1

I used to be an avid Opera fan but when they became militant about registering or be force-fed a gazillion obnoxious ads (I hate ads!), I looked around and found the Mozilla Firebird. It is free, ad-free and it just plain work for me and the places I frequent.

Now, for that ad-free surfing experience I never go anywhere without The Proxomitron. It can be tuned so that almost everything works but those pesky ads are completely removed. In addition it kills many pop-up ad-windows while leaving those real pop-up windows working, and it also takes care of troublesome javascript, webbugs and much, much more!

Works with all browsers! Don't leave home without it! :)

--
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
Re:Opera! by Moosi · 2003-10-09 01:07 · Score: 1

OK, I'm confused, what problems do you have with Opera? Only issues I have is Java support, but hell, I'm not sure about reliable java anywhere :)

Plus if you can put up with adverts (half inch by three inches isn't a lot of my desktop really) you can get Opera and Eudora free.

Thunderbird is neat, but I find it slower to browse, and harder to install than Opera. This is on a Win XP box.

On Macs I tend to use Safari, on Linux I use whatever. Or nothing, since i'm only running Linux on servers, so I don't really need a browser :)

Spyware scanner by PD · 2003-10-08 04:34 · Score: 1

You need to get yourself a copy of ad-aware.

--
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.

Re:Spyware scanner by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:49 · Score: 0

Spybot Search & Destroy is another option.

Top ten Windows apps to install. by EggMan2000 · 2003-10-08 04:34 · Score: 5, Informative

Here is my top ten list (in no particular order) for Windows. I'll let everyone argue about the Linux tools.
CygWin the Linux-like environment for Windows.
Mozilla naturally.... Use this for mail, news, and browsing if you like.
WS FTP Light a FREE, FTP client that works great.
PuTTY a free SSH client for Windows.
VNC remote controll software, NOTE: the location is no longer on the ATT Labs UK site.
GNU-EMacs for Windows. I usually install it, but use Vi more.
Dev-C++ a free C++ compiler. I use VC++ 6.0, but this is free, and I think it's pretty good.
NetHack You MUST have NetHack installed on everything...
Free-AV free Anti-Virus software for Windows.
Boingo to see where the closest hotspot is. (free) you don't need the service.

--
what? what I thought we were in the trust tree in the nest, were we not?

Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by pixelgeek · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 2, Insightful

We must have differing views on what a "family" needs for their PC as I can't see most families doing C++ development coding in EMacs on their family PC :-)

A little family get-together around the PC to do some kernel tweaking before bedtime?
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by stevesliva · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 1
Also:
- PDF viewer (Acrobat Reader)
- Chat client (Trillian)
- Absolutely essential for XP: Several visits to windowsupdate for security patches
--
Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by fuzzz · 2003-10-08 04:40 · Score: 1

Instead of WS FTP, there is FileZilla , an open source graphical FTP program. Free is good, but might as well try open source as much as possible.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by cavemanf16 · 2003-10-08 04:42 · Score: 4, Informative

I completely agree with the above poster's advice. Add in:
OpenOffice 1.1
and
Winamp 2.x for audio/video usage in Windows, or
XMMS 1.8 for audio/video usage in Linux.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Lord+Kholdan · 2003-10-08 04:43 · Score: 4, Insightful

Warning, snippage included

CygWin the Linux-like environment for Windows.
PuTTY a free SSH client for Windows.
VNC remote controll software, NOTE: the location is no longer on the ATT Labs UK site.
GNU-EMacs for Windows. I usually install it, but use Vi more.
Dev-C++ a free C++ compiler. I use VC++ 6.0, but this is free, and I think it's pretty good.

For a home system? For a developer box? yeah. but for a home system?

But barring that, you deserver +5 Informative for mentioning nethack.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by iamcadaver · 2003-10-08 04:43 · Score: 1

Your list is rendered 30% redundant by your first entry.
WS FTP Light a FREE, FTP client that works great.
use ncftp from cygwin
PuTTY a free SSH client for Windows.
use openssh from cygwin
GNU-EMacs for Windows. I usually install it, but use Vi more.
use emacs AND vim from cygwin
Dev-C++ a free C++ compiler. I use VC++ 6.0, but this is free, and I think it's pretty good.
*cough* cygwin

--
Before I part with'em: two pennies weigh ~4.996+/-0.014g, have a zinc core, and the face of Lincoln. You can keep 'em.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by jmoriarty · 2003-10-08 04:43 · Score: 4, Insightful

CygWin the Linux-like environment for Windows.
WS FTP Light a FREE, FTP client that works great.
PuTTY a free SSH client for Windows.
GNU-EMacs for Windows. I usually install it, but use Vi more.
Dev-C++ a free C++ compiler. I use VC++ 6.0, but this is free, and I think it's pretty good.
NetHack You MUST have NetHack installed on everything...

Sweet Christmas! The poster asked for a general family-type system. I'm not sure what sort of family YOU have, but these programs would cause my mother to die from fright.

Not that they aren't handy tools, but I don't think that is what the poster was after...
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Outland+Traveller · 2003-10-08 04:43 · Score: 1

I would switch out "WS FTP Light" for "Filezilla". It's open source and gets you sftp support as a bonus.

Why bother with Dev-C++ when you can get gcc and the rest of the standard unix developer tools as part of cygwin?

Boingo was really annoying when I tried it out. I uninstalled it after 5 minutes. I would put "Freezip" on the list instead.

It costs a modest amount of money, but ZoneAlarm should probably be on the list as well.

Openoffice should get a mention too :)
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by rizzo420 · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 5, Interesting

note he said winamp 2.x, not 3. winamp 3 is a resource hog and sucks ass. i'm currently trying to find something better for all my media needs. any suggestions? i don't want to use media player for anything other than windows media stuff.

--
please me, have no regrets.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by mosch · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 0, Troll
That's a great setup... for a family of geeky coders. For a normal family, I'd say:
- Microsoft Office
- Acrobat Reader
- Macromedia Flash
- Norton Anti-Virus
- Google Toolbar
- Quicken
- TurboTax
- Print Shop
- Nero
- Backyard Baseball
- Grand Theft Auto
Normal people don't need ftp or ssh clients, or specialized editors. They need simple to use tools.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by rizzo420 · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 1

i use filezilla for all my ftp needs now. i've never used ws_ftp lite, but i have used the free education edition (i think it's ws_ftp le or something). filezilla is really nice.

--
please me, have no regrets.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by jonfelder · 2003-10-08 04:52 · Score: 1

I prefer tightvnc to realvnc...in my experience it has been more stable.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 0

LeechFTP is far superior to any FTP client I've ever seen.

http://stud.fh-heilbronn.de/~jdebis/leechftp/dow nl oads.html
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by neurojab · 2003-10-08 04:55 · Score: 1

>Dev-C++ a free C++ compiler. I use VC++ 6.0, but this is free, and I think it's pretty good.

Actually MinGW is the compiler, which is one of two ports of GCC for Windows. Dev-C++ is just an IDE. I'd recommend Eclipse instead as the IDE, as it supports MinGW and Java, and is a fine, extensible development studio overall.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by EisPick · 2003-10-08 04:55 · Score: 4, Informative
A few (free) alternatives:
- Instead of Mozilla, I prefer the leaner Firebird for browsing and Eudora for email. If you take the time to learn how to use the Filters feature, Eudora's pretty good at filtering spam. Especially if you crank up the size of the History of addresses you sent to and store your contacts in the address book. You can then filter messages whose sender "doesn't intersect" your address book or history into a spam folder.
- Instead of WS FTP, I prefer Filezilla, which is truly free (you have to pretend to be a student or a non-profit to use WS FTP for free) and does sftp as well.
- TTSSH is a much less clunky ssh client than PuTTY.
Also:
- If you use a Palm, PalmEudora Sync keeps your addressbooks synchronized (which will help with those Eudora spam filters).
- Mark's Adding Machine is much better than the Windows calculator for balancing checkbooks.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:56 · Score: 0

Yes, I have a suggestion:

http://www.foobar2000.org/

It's minimal, extremely extensible, and all around sweet. Also, there's a cool visualization for it now, called Bubbla. But you'll have to get it from the forums.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by FuzzyBad-Mofo · 2003-10-08 04:56 · Score: 1

WS FTP Light a FREE, FTP client that works great.

Sorry to nitpick, but WS-FTP is not free, it's shareware. For a Free graphical FTP client (and server) on Win32, I'd recommend FileZilla.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by yerricde · 2003-10-08 04:58 · Score: 2, Informative

use openssh from cygwin

Does Cygwin OpenSSH have GUI configuration? PuTTY does.

use emacs AND vim from cygwin

Cygwin Emacs seems to have problems with key bindings. And does Cygwin Emacs support use of a pointing device without having to install Cygwin XFree86? Or is it a TTY app?

>Dev-C++ a free C++ compiler.

*cough* cygwin

Dev-C++ is an IDE that wraps GCC, either the GCC from MinGW or the GCC from Cygwin. Does Cygwin come with an IDE (and don't say Emacs)?

--
Will I retire or break 10K?
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:58 · Score: 1

*cough*

Let me give you a hand here in understanding some of the differences between your list and his:

This is what Dev-C++ looks like.

And this is what gcc looks like.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by ImNotThatSmart · 2003-10-08 04:59 · Score: 0

That's a great setup... for a family of geeky coders. This is a +5 funny.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Gudlyf · 2003-10-08 04:59 · Score: 1

Dear Lord! He said he wanted to go easy on the coin. Some of the stuff you're suggesting isn't cheap at all.

--
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by fatcow · 2003-10-08 05:01 · Score: 0

How about FOOBAR2000?
fb2000
and it is very extensible, very customisable, and has very low footprint. The author has written plugins for something, I can't remember.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:01 · Score: 5, Funny

I can't see most families doing C++ development coding in EMacs

exactly my feelings. people in my family use vi.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by cbiffle · 2003-10-08 05:01 · Score: 1

Wait. Can't Emacs do all of that yet? :-)
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by yerricde · 2003-10-08 05:03 · Score: 1

FileZilla appears to do FTP and SFTP but not SCP. Some web hosting services (such as SourceForge.net) require SCP.

--
Will I retire or break 10K?
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by 16K+Ram+Pack · 2003-10-08 05:03 · Score: 1

I'll back up this comment. IMO it's better than WSFTP.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by 1nfern0 · 2003-10-08 05:05 · Score: 0

Winamp 2.9x is out and supports playback of video as well as the usual audio.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Nicholas+Schumacher · 2003-10-08 05:07 · Score: 1

Cygwin and PuTTY?

You do know that Cygwin has ssh, right?

--
-Nick
My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. You killed my master. Prepare to die.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:09 · Score: 0

Remove Boingo, Nethack and Emacs from that list and install Ad-Aware, Zonealarm and Open Office instead.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by calebtucker · 2003-10-08 05:10 · Score: 1

I like the JPEG compression in tightvnc. It's great for vnc'ing into my computer at home that has a measly 20k/s upstream (and most of it is usually being eaten up by bittorrent).

--
My sig can beat up your sig.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:11 · Score: 0

Might I advice winscp in addition to putty. It's an scp/sftp frontend. Easy, secure, drag-and-drop copying. I've uninstalled ftpd on all my machines. If you need anonymous downloading, just use http, and if you need anonymous uploading, try doing something that's not illegal, because that's likely what you're needing it for.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:15 · Score: 0

Good list, the only thing I'd change is replace one of the video games with MusicMatch Jukebox (the free basic version). Everyone should have an MP3 player on their home PC.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by the_consumer · 2003-10-08 05:16 · Score: 1

You can get SCP for windows from PuTTy. There's a GPL graphical frontend called Secure iXplorer from i-tree.org.

--
"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, you're right." -
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by gpinzone · 2003-10-08 05:18 · Score: 1

FileZilla appears to do FTP and SFTP but not SCP. Some web hosting services (such as SourceForge.net) require SCP.

So use Putty or install Cygwin.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by iamcadaver · 2003-10-08 05:18 · Score: 1

Always use RXVT
/usr/bin/rxvt -sr -rv -fn fixedsys -e /bin/bash --login -i
With it you get X-like term window with mouse inputs, cut&paste interface, etc. Fixes ssh, vim, emacs, and most all ncurses based programs. I change the target of the desktop cygwin icon to run the above command instead of 'startup.bat'.
I've never needed more than gdb and vim for an IDE, so I can't answer that. XFree86-4.3.0 now ships with cygwin, if you elect to install it.

--
Before I part with'em: two pennies weigh ~4.996+/-0.014g, have a zinc core, and the face of Lincoln. You can keep 'em.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by gpinzone · 2003-10-08 05:20 · Score: 1

Does Cygwin OpenSSH have GUI configuration? PuTTY does.

No, but is it really that necessary? I mean, when you're done configuring PuTTY, you end up with a command prompt. If you're uncomforable with working with a command prompt, then you probably won't be using PuTTY in the first place.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by moultano · 2003-10-08 05:22 · Score: 1

Agreed. Foobar 2000 is one of the best pieces of software I have ever used. Every aspect of it shows skillful design. It is excellent as music management software as well as a player.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:33 · Score: 0

Media Player Classic, of course.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by RexRuther · 2003-10-08 05:37 · Score: 1

I too like this program (LeechFTP)

--
-"The early bird catches the worm, but the late bird sleeps the most"
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by willy134 · 2003-10-08 05:39 · Score: 3, Funny

AOL allows you to get "content" that you wouldn't be able to get anywhere else.
Gator allows all sorts of useful searching and ads on your computer.
MSN explorer A very nice web browser that takes over your whole web experience.
Webshots is a very nice background rotator that hogs bandwidth and proccesor time and whaterver else it does.
Weatherbug is a handy little sys-tray app that shows the weather, and watches your every move.

So if you are willing to listen to all the "help" given here on /. You will have the buggiest bulkiest computer there is.

Although some essential programs include...
xmms,Mozilla (most incarnations are great), Gimp (The best FREE image editor)
Also check out Easy URPMI for obtaining linux software.

--
Can you ping me now?... Good!
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by SoTuA · 2003-10-08 05:41 · Score: 1

If you take the time to learn how to use the Filters feature, Eudora's pretty good at filtering spam. Especially if you crank up the size of the History of addresses you sent to and store your contacts in the address book. You can then filter messages whose sender "doesn't intersect" your address book or history into a spam folder.
Mozilla (and the Thunderbird Standalone Mail Client) do spam detecting with bayesian filters. It works wonders for me. AND it's too easy to use. You just say "enable junk mail filtering", choose the folder for spam, and off you go. After a week the filter will have learned what your spam looks like. Plus you can tell it to not filter adresses on your address book. I have my parents using Thunderbird and it works great. And it takes care of my 80% spam rate.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by mattOzan · 2003-10-08 05:43 · Score: 1

Three other essential freeware Windows apps that I always give to people:
Irfanview image viewer. Reads almost every image format known to man, and so much better than having IE pop up every time you want to view a JPEG or GIF! Also performs most every basic image edit (rotate, crop, sharpen, resize) that a basic home user would need, short of PaintShip Pro or Photoshop.
CDex MP3 ripper. IMO the best MP3 ripper out there. Uses the LAME codec. Also encodes to OGG, VQF, APE... And completely open source.
Editpad text editor. A replacement for the terrible Windows Notepad. Opens unlimited numbers of documents into a tabbed format. And has some nice little features, like header and footer options for printing, timestamps, ROT-13, etc. Also available for Linux...
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:45 · Score: 0

A better ssh client than PuTTY (IMO) which is free for "non comercial use" is SSH Secure Shell.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by peragrin · 2003-10-08 05:46 · Score: 1

I have been using leechFTP for years it is a shame he stopped supporting it. I install it on every machine i come across, as well as carry the binaries on my USB drive

--
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by mattOzan · 2003-10-08 05:56 · Score: 1

PuTTY a free SSH client for Windows.
I carry this with me on a disk, but on my windows machine I use Tera Term Pro. It is old (pre-Y2K) but unmatched on the Windows side. Best feature is that it is scriptable. It also has an SSH extension.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by fermion · 2003-10-08 06:22 · Score: 1

RTFP before replying. He wants a family system
Drop Cygwin and Dev-C++. If you are going to dual boot into Linux, do development in Linux using Emacs and the Gnu or other OSS compilers. if your kids are learning programming in school, the best thing to do to help them is try to score a copy of Visual Studio. This what the lame windoze machine at school run.
Unless you are doing a lot of web development, I don't see the use for an FTP client.
Skip the AV program and get adaware. It will scrub the system of all the cookies, spyware, and sometimes even viruses that your family will inevitiable accidently let onto the system.
I would be very hesititant about putting some of the other stuff on family machine, unless you want your kids to join the l33t script.

--
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:23 · Score: 0

FTP Voyager fans make a note of www.smartftp.com for smartftp. I prefer it to ws_ftp lite as I like eye candy and it has great features too.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by poot_rootbeer · 2003-10-08 06:27 · Score: 1

If you're using Cygwin, what are the advantages to using software packages like Dev-C++ and PuTTY, rather than the GNU gcc and ssh equivalents?
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:36 · Score: 0

I second FileZilla - it's interface is similar to BulletProof FTP and has tons of features.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Eil · 2003-10-08 06:40 · Score: 4, Informative

TTSSH is a much less clunky ssh client than PuTTY.

Less clunky? C'mon. I haven't used TTSSH in a long time, but I remember having nothing but troubles with it. PuTTY configuration is easy (if a little odd at first), the binary is small, and is dead simple to install.

TTSSH:
* Download Teraterm
* Install Teraterm
* Download TTSSH
* Unzip TTSSH
* Run TTSSH

PuTTY:
* Download PuTTY
* Run PuTTY

Also, I note that on the TTSSH pages it still says that TTSSH does not support SSH v2 and never will. PuTTY does, which is useful for me, because I use v2 pretty much exclusively on my network.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by AugstWest · 2003-10-08 06:40 · Score: 1

Everyone seems to have jumped on the TightVNC bandwagon. Personally, I use zvnc, which has zebedee encryption built-in.

Sure, you could tunnel VNC, but why bother if you don't have to?
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:41 · Score: 0

note he said winamp 2.x, not 3. winamp 3 is a resource hog and sucks ass. i'm currently trying to find something better for all my media needs. any suggestions?
Yes ... Winamp 2.91. I agree that Winamp 3 blows, but Winamp 2.91 is still great, and nowhere near being outdated.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Enonu · 2003-10-08 06:41 · Score: 1

Exactly, the above software is definitely not for the 'typical family PC' the original poster requested. Some geeks are so far removed from mainstream reality to the point of being disfunctional when it comes to helping others with technology.

Invariably, if you let these people "help", you'll end up with an overblown solution that the client can't use. I can already hear, "But I just want to print my pictures!" in that sad helpless tone of voice.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:44 · Score: 0

Instead of WS FTP, I prefer Filezilla, which is truly free (you have to pretend to be a student or a non-profit to use WS FTP for free) and does sftp as well

You may want to take a look at SmartFTP (www.smartftp.com) for a very nice free windows FTP client.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:46 · Score: 0

note he said winamp 2.x, not 3. winamp 3 is a resource hog and sucks ass. i'm currently trying to find something better for all my media needs. any suggestions?
Yes, as said previously, Winamp 2.91. I agree that Winamp 3 blows, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with Winamp 2.91.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:48 · Score: 0

+5 Informative for mentioning nethack? On Slashdot? Shouldn't that be -1, Redundant?
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by TheBadger · 2003-10-08 06:48 · Score: 1

PuTTY.exe = 220k and doesn't need installing.

Cygwin + OpenSSH = ?????k and needs installing.

PuTTY rocks! I spent a massive amount of time talking my work place to allow us to use it (it's not supported so they were reluctant). If I had a penny for all those seconds of time I've saved against Boland James "Impart".....

--
Auto-check your UK lottery lines
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Seq · 2003-10-08 06:55 · Score: 1

check out videolan, it is one of the few media players that I've found that doesnt just embed a WMP control in it's own interface. It's also around for a few other platforms.
Is there anything like rhythmbox/itunes for windows? (although I see itunes is supposed to make an appearance)

--
-- Seq
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by middle · 2003-10-08 06:58 · Score: 1

cygwin, putty, dev-c++, vnc..... geez, weren't we talikng about a family pc ?
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by mhifoe · 2003-10-08 07:01 · Score: 1

I think Cygwin is vitally important for a home system. Consider what my wife uses our home machine for:

1. Sending email.
2. Web browsing.
3. Word processing.
4. Spreadsheets.
5. Building and using a Windows (Cygwin) hosted cross-compiler for an embedded powerpc target processor.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 07:03 · Score: 0

I currently use the free version of JetAudio. I like it because it plays all the RealMedia and Windows types without having to have multiple players installed. The only catch is that you have to have the codecs installed, so you may need to get the players, then remove them.

Kame
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by bcisys · 2003-10-08 07:05 · Score: 2, Informative

SAProxy is a free, easily setup version of SpamAssasin for Windows, and works great. Get it on the Bloomba site, at http://saproxy.bloomba.com/moreinfo.php
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by drivers · 2003-10-08 07:47 · Score: 1

Cygwin Emacs seems to have problems with key bindings.

Put the following line at the top (after "@echo off" is good) of your cygwin.bat file:
set CYGWIN=tty
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by tangent3 · 2003-10-08 08:08 · Score: 1

This is easy. You're looking for Foobar2000.

Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include ReplayGain support, low memory footprint and native support for several popular audio formats.

Features:
- Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player
- Audio formats supported "out-of-the-box": WAV, AIFF, VOC, AU, SND, Ogg Vorbis, MPC, MP2, MP3
- Audio formats supported through official addons: MPEG-4 AAC, FLAC, OggFLAC, Monkey's Audio, WavPack, Speex, CDDA, TFMX, SPC, various MOD types; extraction on-the-fly from RAR and ZIP archives
- Full Unicode support on Windows NT
- ReplayGain support
- Low memory footprint, efficient handling of really large playlists
- Advanced file info processing capabilities (generic file info box and masstagger)
- Highly customizable playlist display
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts
- Most of standard components are opensourced under BSD license (source included with the SDK)
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by truenoir · 2003-10-08 08:09 · Score: 1

I tend to use Winamp for audio and Zoom Player (zPlayer) for video.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by TeXMaster · 2003-10-08 08:13 · Score: 1
For the media, I suggest something like IrfanView. There is also a Media Player Classic which you might like to look at; in fact, whereas Windows 9x comes with mplayer2.exe which is the good old MediaPlayer (as opposed to the WMP hog), the Windows NT series (NT, 2K, XP) does not, so this is the perfect replacement. Oh, and possibly have a look at BSPlayer too (for video only) I would also like to add the following items to the list of needed software (under Windows):
- The Bat! mail client (shareware)
- Opera browser/mail/newsclient (adware), much more lightweight than Mozilla
- 40tude Dialog newsclient
- Total Commander file manager (shareware)
- eMule peer-to-peer client (open source)
- ViM
- editor (open source)
- GhostScript and GSView for PostScript and PDF rendering/conversion/manipulation (open source)
- ActivePerl, ActivePython, ActiveTcl for scripting
- 7-zip packer
--
"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart" (Linus van Pelt)
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Coryoth · 2003-10-08 08:17 · Score: 1

You quote:

CygWin the Linux-like environment for Windows.
PuTTY a free SSH client for Windows.
Dev-C++ a free C++ compiler. I use VC++ 6.0, but this is free, and I think it's pretty good.
GNU-EMacs for Windows. I usually install it, but use Vi more.

Don't you think there's some serious redundancy in all of that? Cygwin includes all manner of goodies, including OpenSSH, and a windows native rxvt (no need for PuTTY!) ncftp (no need for other ftp software), gcc, which kind of takes care of free C compilers, and last I saw included GNU-Emacs and XEmacs if you so desired. I'm not sure whether they have a nethack package at the moment. I'm sure it's coming.

Jedidiah

--
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by univeralifepadre · 2003-10-08 08:54 · Score: 1

we're getting pretty far off target from a family home computer here but, here are some of my favorite alternatives to the above list;

mozilla - if prefer MyIE2
ws ftp - i much prefer filezilla
PuTTY - try transparent putty
vnc - if you're running xp or 2k you should go with ultravnc
gnu-emacs - yikes!if you must have a unix style text editor under windows, may i recommend cream for vim
free-av - i'd probably go with AVG anti virus
boingo - don't forget netstumbler

here are a few more i install before i ever run a new system;

foobar2000 console2
divx player
stuffit expander
trillian
and if you need an email client try popcorn

i've got links to lots more free windows software at my links page
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Trogre · 2003-10-08 09:06 · Score: 1

I would add WinGIMP (with relevant gtk+ library) for gfx work, and Celestia for, well, for fun.

--
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by luzrek · 2003-10-08 09:10 · Score: 1

Hmm...I wonder if foobar get's its name from FUBAR? which stands for F*** Up Beyond All Releif. Not a name I'ld choose for a program (but it is a windows program).

--
Galium Arsenide is the material of the future, and always will be.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:12 · Score: 0

I like the Winamp 5 alpha. You won't find it on Nullsoft's site, but Google will get it for you quick enough. Its a Winamp 2.8x backend with support for Winamp 3 skins and some of the added features, like video support and the file library. If you like that. There are options to not install the added features if you'd prefer not.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by thdexter · 2003-10-08 09:31 · Score: 1

You know ... I would have to say adom is better than nethack, but that's just me.

--
I'm on a road shaped like a figure eight; I'm going nowhere but I'm guaranteed to be late.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:38 · Score: 0

Quintessential Player, http://quinnware.com, is an excellent, stable, mediaplayer that is completely freeware and nice looking (once you dip into the user-made skins, the default is less than great). I love most everything about this player.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:50 · Score: 0

Try MusicMatch 8.1. It's free, although you can upgrade (faster burning/ripping) for $20. It's been winning all the magazine reviews for the last few years.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:10 · Score: 0

putty is a lot easier to install; however, unlike TeraTerm it doesn't seem to support ZMODEM (rz and sz are very nice for transferring small files, without having to make a separate SCP session).

I've noticed that either I'm doing something wrong, or neither Teraterm nor putty properly forward ports. For example, I set up winamp to play files streamed over http (and tunnelled through ssh). I think teraterm would play one song correctly, and die when winamp tried the next on the playlist. Putty would kill the connection about 30 sec. into the song and skip to the next. Only cygwin's ssh worked correctly.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by rizzo420 · 2003-10-08 10:22 · Score: 1

i believe it's "beyond all recognition" meaning you can't recognize whatever it was because it's so F'd up.

--
please me, have no regrets.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 10:25 · Score: 1

I'd drop CygWin - WHY would a FAMILY PC need CygWin? Mozilla too, but saying this will keep the Opera/Mozilla religious war going. WS_FTP is good, ditto for PuTTY. However, you're linking to RealVNC for VNC. Try ultravnc.sf.net for a Windows-only VNC server/client that works REALLY well. The client also has chat and file transfer, and the server has domain-based authentication (but, you can only use the uvnc client or a defunct project's client to use domain-based authentication). All the others are completely unnecessary except Free-AV (I prefer AVG, though) and Boingo. I don't use Boingo, but it looks like it's easier than Network Stumbler for a non-geek (I've got NetStumbler, now I just need a WiFi card...).
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 10:28 · Score: 1

I'm still using WiMP on this box, but CoolPlayer's good for MP3/Ogg. Just make sure you switch to the Cooler Media plugout instead of the DirectSound plugout, or you'll get MAJOR stability issues.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 10:30 · Score: 1

PuTTY and VNC are still good. PuTTY if you want to play with SDF, and VNC if you need to access your home box (ever heard of PCAnywhere?) from anywhere that there is internet access. However, use UltraVNC on Windows, NOT RealVNC - PLEASE not!
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Dwedit · 2003-10-08 10:50 · Score: 1

The GUI!

Much easier to add files to a project and click a button then to learn how to write makefiles...
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Thing+1 · 2003-10-08 10:59 · Score: 1

I am currently running Weatherbug. Yes, Ad-Aware and/or Spybot removed some stuff after I installed it, but it's actually quite nice to have the temperature constantly displayed, and forecast information available with a mouse-click.
Other than the spyware (which, if everyone runs Ad-Aware, it should remove easily) is there any other reason for not liking it?

--
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 11:16 · Score: 0

I have been using MindTerm [www.appgate.com/mindterm] for my SSH needs with a lot of success. It's Java based, so it supports multiple platforms. It free for home use and for 100 users.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 11:35 · Score: 1

That's what he's referring to. WS_FTP LE is actually free for home OR educational use.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 11:48 · Score: 1

I jumped on the TightVNC bandwagon by using Ultr@VNC (ultravnc.sf.net). It is Windows-only, but it is by far the fastest VNC server/client combo for Windows. It uses a custom video driver on 2000 and XP. Domain-based authentication is also supported by uvnc, but it will only work with the uvnc client (any other - except for one defunct project's client - will show an authentication error). The uvnc client can also do fileswapping with the server (very nicely, too), and chat with the server and all clients.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by rulero · 2003-10-08 11:49 · Score: 2, Informative

For images and video I use IrfanView is like xv but on steroids, it can show images in full screen, create slideshows, batch convert/process files, download images from a digital camera or scanner, it has may useful hotkeys (like [space] to see the next file in the directory) it also plays audio files, but I prefer winamp or zinf for that
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 11:50 · Score: 1

Sorry to nitpick, but WS_FTP LE (what the poster was referring to) IS free for home or educational use. I can't say how good WS_FTP LE is compared to FileZilla, but I know WS_FTP LE is pretty good.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 11:55 · Score: 1

Unless you are doing a lot of web development, I don't see the use for an FTP client.

If you're reliving the old Apple II experience, IE is a BITCH to get DSK images with (unless you use some mirrors - http://www.geocities.com/apl24win's download page has a search engine for images) - they're all on ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net. And skip the AV app? Hell no! PuTTY is fine - keep in mind, this guy's geek enough to be posting on /. The VNC server should be UltraVNC, but that should stay unless he's got a really bad 56K.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by kavau · 2003-10-08 11:59 · Score: 1
TTSSH:
- Download Teraterm
- Install Teraterm
- Download TTSSH
- Unzip TTSSH
- Run TTSSH
PuTTY:
- Download PuTTY
- Run PuTTY
Linux:
- ssh
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by WalkingBear · 2003-10-08 12:07 · Score: 1

Works for my family. Mother, brother, sister-in-law, brother-in=law, wife, father-in-law, girlfriend are all in IT in one for or another. (from programming to tech support to director)
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 12:49 · Score: 0

> WS FTP Light a FREE, FTP client that works great.

*sigh* You haven't FTPed until you've used FileZilla. Does WS FTP even due secure connections?!
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by jariv · 2003-10-08 12:55 · Score: 1

It *is* good idea to install VNC (TightVNC/win32) and disable by default (with good password). If you have to, for example, clean up next worm invasion or install something you forgot like a firewall (Kerio).
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by glitch23 · 2003-10-08 13:49 · Score: 1

why not winamp 2.x?

--
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by rizzo420 · 2003-10-08 14:03 · Score: 1

i'm getting a little tired of winamp, i'd like to use something more independent (winamp was cool until he sold out to aol and then made winamp 3 which sucks), maybe even open source.

--
please me, have no regrets.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by lizrd · 2003-10-08 15:01 · Score: 1

PuTTY is a really nice xterm program. cmd.exe is a steaming pile of shit. The trouble is that cygwin/openssh relies on cmd.exe to provide the 'xterm' window, and it really sucks. PuTTY gives you a window that you can stretch more (or less) than 80 characters wide. Easy cut-n-paste. Nice GUI. Custom ANSI colors. All that good stuff. PuTTY rules! I've even setup sshd on my XP machines so that I can use PuTTY to access the shell on them and do away with cmd.exe windows entirely.

--
I don't want free as in beer. I just want free beer.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by H8X55 · 2003-10-08 15:03 · Score: 1

Hey you missed BonziBuddy - the walking, talking purple gorilla of doom.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Squonk01 · 2003-10-08 15:27 · Score: 0

Mailwasher for previewing, deleting and even bouncing mail from your server before downloading it to your new computer.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by theTerribleRobbo · 2003-10-08 15:46 · Score: 0

<snip>
VNC [realvnc.com] remote controll software

Swap that out for tightVNC - comes in with inbuilt ssh support (but only using the unix viewer going to a unix server, mind. :-S), as well as compression (optional jpeg), local cursor handling...
Yeesh. I sound like an advertisement here.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by nicku · 2003-10-08 16:58 · Score: 1

I must say i like Filezilla for FTP.
It does SFTP as well and is GPL.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by westlake · 2003-10-08 16:58 · Score: 1

You might want to try Desktop Weather from The Weather Channel.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by cygnusx · 2003-10-08 18:03 · Score: 1

Odd. I use plink, Putty's port-forwarding tool, and never had a problem.

plink -L 80:box.tld:80 user@box.tld should forward HTTP just fine.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Ours · 2003-10-08 19:26 · Score: 1

Try Zoom Player for video. The free version won't play DVD's but for the rest it's a blast.

--
"You superiour intellect is no match for our puny weapons" - The Simpsons
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by hughk · 2003-10-08 20:34 · Score: 1

I install cygwin on systems that I have to support. It isn't intended to be user visible, but some of my icons may run a bash script rather than a .bat or .exe.

--
See my journal, I write things there
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Tilps · 2003-10-08 22:35 · Score: 1

I wonder which cmd.exe your using ...
mine has custom ansi colors - easy cut-n-paste and can be resized however i like...

ofcourse rxvt comes with cygwin anyway..

--
Sigs are for wimps. I am proud to be one.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Wolfrider · 2003-10-08 23:46 · Score: 1

Putty is essential for when they call YOU over to fix their computer, and you bring your trusty laptop (running Linux) with you. Always a good idea to carry a crossover Ethernet cable, and maybe a USB -> Ethernet adapter as well.

--
.
== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by iamcadaver · 2003-10-09 01:51 · Score: 1

I won't deny PuTTY is venerable. I use it myself on machines that don't have cygwin. Does it support SSH v3 yet?

"It fixes windows."

--
Before I part with'em: two pennies weigh ~4.996+/-0.014g, have a zinc core, and the face of Lincoln. You can keep 'em.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by FuzzyBad-Mofo · 2003-10-09 02:14 · Score: 1

Free as in beer, maybe. But things that come with strings attached aren't really free, now are they?
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by jo_ham · 2003-10-09 05:28 · Score: 1

Wait for a little bit and you'll be able to use iTunes on Windows.

It's the greatest music organisation and playing software out there.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Ezzelin · 2003-10-09 06:08 · Score: 1

XMPlay! Great player, supports all the major formats, including rock solid MOD support, free, wonderful interface, etc. It's really amazing. www.un4seen.com
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by MagFox · 2003-10-09 10:01 · Score: 1

www.foobar2000.com for Audio.
Media Player Classic at http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/ for video. That's all ya need.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-09 12:38 · Score: 0

Zoom Player is an amazing light and tight player. It takes some tweaking to unhook media player's claws out of everything, but once it's configured... it rocks. It has the most user control of any player i've encountered.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by FuzzieNorn · 2003-10-09 23:34 · Score: 1

Even Nullsoft admit that Winamp 3 pretty much sucks, which is why WA3 features are being backported to the new WA2 releases, and why Winamp "5" will be based on Winamp 2.x.
Re:Top ten Windows apps to install. by marimar · 2003-10-10 00:49 · Score: 1

I feel the same way about winamp 3, so I stopped using it and replaced it with zinf [ www.zinf.org ]. It is great. The best part is that it's very light so it doesn't hug the resources like winamp.

Free A/V by sheddd · 2003-10-08 04:34 · Score: 0, Redundant

I like Grisoft.

Something that blocks pop-ups by Gortbusters.org · 2003-10-08 04:34 · Score: 3, Funny

for better porn browsing. Search your feelings, you know this to be true!

--
--------
Free your mind.

Re:Something that blocks pop-ups by upmufa · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 1

Get the Google ToolBar. Its free. I like it alot.
Re:Something that blocks pop-ups by SpazAttak · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 1

mozilla/firebird already does that for you.
Re:Something that blocks pop-ups by philhy · 2003-10-08 05:49 · Score: 0

This one is pretty good

http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/p ow.htm

(So are the rest of his utilities).

--
--
Re:Something that blocks pop-ups by Artraze · 2003-10-08 13:30 · Score: 1

Funny, yes, but this is an important need.

The Proxomitron Is probably the best thing avaible.
It's free, and as a generic HTML filter it not only blocks pop-ups but can allow right clicks, disable audio, the works.

Two here by Sir+Haxalot · 2003-10-08 04:34 · Score: 1

Openoffice and Zonealarm.

--
I have over 70 freaks, do you?

let's see by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:34 · Score: 0

Mac OS X
Safari
iCal
iChat
Transmit
Mail
Photoshop Elements
X11
OpenOffice
Fink
NetNewsWire
Omni Graffle

that about covers it, and no need to dual-boot either, or use a virus checker.

Re:let's see by ebbomega · 2003-10-08 04:42 · Score: 1

How useful for the x86 platform. Read the write up next time how about, hmmm?

--
Karma: Non-Heinous

Mozilla Firebird by cbqwinner · 2003-10-08 04:35 · Score: 2, Informative

It's small, fast and has a ton of built in features.

Re:Mozilla Firebird by ospirata · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 1

In fact I prefer Mozilla Full Suite, because of the Mail Client, Dom Spector, Javascipt Debugger,etc.. But I may agree that as a stand-alone browser, Firebird beats Opera, Konqueror, Galeon and some others. Oh, even IE.

Evolution on Linux side by ParadoxDruid · 2003-10-08 04:35 · Score: 1

I don't think you can beat Ximia's Evolution for mail, calendar, etc on Linux systems.

--
This statement is solely an opinion. Kindly take it as such in all cases.

Be realistic by Ass,+Ltd.+Ho! · 2003-10-08 04:35 · Score: 0, Troll

You need MS Office. You can't operate a home computer without basic functionality and communication with all your friends and collegaues who ALL USE OFFICE.

but being still more realistic, who ever PAYS for MS software anymore? just borrow a CD from a friend and find a registration number on Surfer's serialz or something. I mean come on.

really, that's about all of it. Everything else comes with windows.

--
HO

Re:Be realistic by bishiraver · 2003-10-08 04:43 · Score: 1

"You need MS Office. You can't operate a home computer without basic functionality and communication with all your friends and collegaues who ALL USE OFFICE."

I didn't know MS Office included communication between installed copies. OpenOffice can save to ms office formats in everything (.doc for word processing, .xls for spreadsheets, .ppt for presentations).

The only function the word processor doesn't have when compared to officeXP that I use frequently is the readability statistic widget. There are all sorts of other functions, like speech to text - but who really uses these functions for something besides a novelty?

MS Office opens files saved in Open Office with a >90% success rate, usually failing when some of the really dynamic content abilities in MS Office were used.

In fact, just recently I took some charts a colleague emailed me that they had made in excel, embedded them into an open office document, along with some other advanced content, saved it as a .doc and sent it on to my super. They never knew I didn't use MS Office.
Re:Be realistic by ebbomega · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 1

http://www.openoffice.org/
Costs about as much as pirated software and it's legal too.

Not to mention handles Office files better than Office does in some cases.

Not to mention, Windows doesn't have any decent native firewalling or anti-virus software, nor does it come natively with any pop-up blockers (though Mozilla does).

And on top of that, Microsoft just more firmly shoves its fist up the anus of IT every time someone pirates their software, so you're doing more damage than good by pirating their software... How about supporting some open standards instead? It seriously costs just as much....

--
Karma: Non-Heinous
Re:Be realistic by Ass,+Ltd.+Ho! · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 1

In fact, just recently I took some charts a colleague emailed me that they had made in excel, embedded them into an open office document, along with some other advanced content, saved it as a .doc and sent it on to my super. They never knew I didn't use MS Office.
Oh, they knew alright. They've had their eye on you and your rogue, pirated, "h4X0r" software for a while now.
I just hope this little outburst of yours goes unnoticed, for your own sake. Personally, I think you should be fired.

--
HO
Re:Be realistic by Ass,+Ltd.+Ho! · 2003-10-08 04:56 · Score: 1

And on top of that, Microsoft just more firmly shoves its fist up the anus of IT every time someone pirates their software, so you're doing more damage than good by pirating their software...
Maybe that's true overall. But I don't work in IT, and frankly I despise those who do. I think they are the grease monkeys of the computer industry. The point is, I really don't care how far MS shoves their "fist up the anus of IT" because it does not affect ME. What does affect ME is getting MS Office for free, which is an all-profit outcome as far as I'm concerned. Let some other sucker pay for it! That's my motto.

--
HO
Re:Be realistic by Eric+Ass+Raymond · 2003-10-08 05:12 · Score: 1

I was recently pleasantly surprised by OpenOffice 1.0.
However, equations will not convert properly in either direction and I had to drop it.

--
BOO! TERRO
Re:Be realistic by phenolphthalein · 2003-10-08 05:20 · Score: 1

This just isn't true anymore. OpenOffice.org is a perfectly capable office suite and recent compatability with Office has been pretty good in most cases. Performance has also improved, and will be perfectly acceptable on a relatively new computer.
Outside of Office software, Audacity is a great free audio editor
SciTE or the java-based Jedit are good text editors.
The GIMP is a good image editor, available here for Windows.
Mozilla or one of its components for mail/web browsing
For media playing you might want to try Zinf (formerly FreeAmp), Foobar2000 (nice light weight music player), WinAMP for Windows. MPlayer is a good video player for Linux (and Windows) and XMMS is a capable music player for Linux.
Celestia is a nice space exploration program.
Jabber is good for instant messaging or Trillian or GAIM if you need to chat on MSN, AIM, ICQ etc.
GNUCash is a capable accounting program.
Oh yeah, and for email, I suggest setting up an IMAP server on an old machine and using that to store your email. This can be quite difficult, though allows you to browse your email from Linux and Windows. Thunderbird is rock solid and good even though only in the early stages of development.
Re:Be realistic by ebbomega · 2003-10-08 11:44 · Score: 1

How wonderfully anarchistic of you.

But what happens when you're at a computer that doesn't have Windows running? What happens when you download the latest version of Office and it doesn't handle older filetypes anywhere near as well as it should because companies like Microsoft don't give two shits about backwards compatibility? If we all bend over and grab our ankles and let Microsoft do whatever the hell they want to, then sooner or later we make our computers do what THEY want them to do instead of what WE want them to do.

--
Karma: Non-Heinous

Some windoze essentials by T-Kir · 2003-10-08 04:35 · Score: 4, Informative

AVG Free edition

Zonealarm

Winamp Classic

..they are the first things I install.

--
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!

Re:Some windoze essentials by millahtime · 2003-10-08 04:41 · Score: 5, Informative

Don't install Zone Alarm. It can cause your internet connection to stop working and is a pain to fix. There are several documented issues with it and to fix it is a total pain. They used to have some of these issues and fixes documented at their site but pulled them. One of their reps told me that the only fix for one of the problems was a reformat and reinstall of the OS because they were never able to trace the problem.

--
Evolution or ID?
Re:Some windoze essentials by SirGeek · 2003-10-08 04:57 · Score: 1

did you ever just try to re-install ZA ?? My wife and I both use it on our Windoze partitions (since we have an SDSL connection and are connected 24/7 ).
When it starts acting wonky, you uninstall and re-install and it has fixed it every time .

--
UPS Sucks
Re:Some windoze essentials by Ost99 · 2003-10-08 04:57 · Score: 3, Informative

NEVER ever install ZoneAlarm!
It corrupts downloads, uses a *lot* of system resources and shuts down connectins at random (IMAP is a real pain with ZoneAlarm).

Use Kerio instead. It's free, and just as easy to set up.

- Ost

--
---- Sig. gone.
Re:Some windoze essentials by jez9999 · 2003-10-08 04:59 · Score: 1

Don't install Zone Alarm. It can cause your internet connection to stop working and is a pain to fix.

BS, FUD, untruth. I have ZoneAlarm installed now, and have had it for a long time. It prevents all unsolicited incoming connections (until you close the app), and removes itself properly when you uninstall it. I haven't had a problem with it. BTW I use version 3.1.395, before they screwed about with the interface.

--
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Re:Some windoze essentials by NexusTw1n · 2003-10-08 05:08 · Score: 4, Informative

I used to rave about ZA being the king of firewalls.

However I've now seen with my own eyes several machines totally screwed by ZA - and yes, by trial and error I've proven it was ZA that was causing the problems.

It can do weird things to the TCP/IP stack that can only be undone under XP with an NETSH IPRESET command, or by uninstalling and reinstalling the protocol in 2000/ME/98. The problem will reoccur as soon as you reactivate Zone Alarm.

I wouldn't recommend it, even in it's free form anymore. Which is a shame, because it used to be damn good.

--
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. --Albert Einstein
Re:Some windoze essentials by kayen_telva · 2003-10-08 05:18 · Score: 0

agreed. zonealarm freaks out sometimes and shuts all networking down rather than going down gracefully. the better choice is kerio personal. not as bubbly but lighter weight and many many options.
Re:Some windoze essentials by EinarH · 2003-10-08 05:19 · Score: 3, Informative

Or Sygate
Much better than ZoneAlarm.
And do not think that "XP allready got a firewall" because that firewall don't stop outgoing connections. So when one of those trojans has snagged all your banking information the Xp firewall won't help you stop it.
Having a firewall that detects outgoing connections is vital to learning about new spyware/malware/trojans/virus on your computer.

--
Melius mori in libertate quam vivere in servitute.
Re:Some windoze essentials by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:02 · Score: 0

No, he's right. I've done support for an ISP, and we've had dozens of calls (and had a few people bring in systems) from customers who's Windows was completely unable to see outside. And their own website, at the time, acknowledged the problem.

This wasn't long ago. Maybe a year.
Re:Some windoze essentials by PygmyTrojan · 2003-10-08 06:40 · Score: 1

uses a *lot* of system resources
Geez, I know what you mean. I get so pissed off when I see my CPU time being used just sitting at 0 with ZoneAlarm running. It's a huge pain in the ass.

--
Trying is the first step towards failure.
Re:Some windoze essentials by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 07:09 · Score: 0

Try Kerio. Check the 'Personal Firewall' bit. You see, I'm a firm believer in the idea that you shouldn't have to constantly reinstall software because it 'started acting wonky'. :P
Re:Some windoze essentials by dswensen · 2003-10-08 07:10 · Score: 1

Can you recommend any alternatives to ZoneAlarm, then?
Re:Some windoze essentials by Ost99 · 2003-10-08 09:15 · Score: 1

When running ZoneAlarm and some net apps, it used 75+MB of (real)RAM and a couple of hundred megs of the page file, and between 5% and 50% of the CPU. I had about 100-200 custom rules for external adresses, and it monitored local adresses. I usually have from 50-100 connections to this computer (local + internet adresses).

Your cpu might be idle most of the time, but mine is not. Since rebooting last (50 something hours ago), Kerio has used 4 sec cpu time. With ZoneAlarm it would have been hours...

I can now use my computer without a 10 sec lag each time I start a program...

So unless you
1) don't actually use your comupter
or
2) have a more computer power than you ever will need

Don't *ever* use ZoneAlarm
Just a friendly tip...

- Ost

--
---- Sig. gone.
Re:Some windoze essentials by Zaiff+Urgulbunger · 2003-10-08 09:24 · Score: 1
Kerio Personal Firewall

That said, I'm using ZoneAlarm on my main machine at the moment and trialing Kerio on another. The thing that I like about Kerio is that:
1. You can configure it and then save the configuration to a file. Then you can restore it if you reload the system or use it to quickly configure other machines (although I've not *actually* done this yet!)
2. Once you've configured it, you can set it to a mode that will stop it asking about new software it finds -- it'll just block anything its not seen before. This is good if you're rolling out machines for non-tech users.... e.g. I'm planing it for my folks' PC.
Back to ZoneAlarm - it does work fine under Win2K pro. It was a little funny under Win98SE... but no suprises there! However, I think Kerio looks the more solid product.

Oh... and I think Kerio starts up with the system. ZoneAlarm starts with each use logon. So when you switch users, you get a ZoneAlarm splash screen every time, which is less good.

Finally, with XinXP, if you can then also enable the builtin Firewall in the interests of "layered security" !
Re:Some windoze essentials by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:37 · Score: 0

Wow, that sounds realllllly convenient
Re:Some windoze essentials by jkbull · 2003-10-08 09:54 · Score: 1

In the last two years or so I've installed Basic ZoneAlarm (free as in beer) on more than a dozen computers and had zero problems.

This is on a mix of Win98, Win2K, and WinXP small office, home, and home-with-teenagers- downloading-and-installing-all-sorts-of-junk computers.
Re:Some windoze essentials by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:58 · Score: 0

If you use the free version of Zone Alarm it uses under 5mb of ram at all times and less than 5% of the CPU at its worst. 99% of the time it uses less than 1% of the CPU. Why would anyone put 200 rules on a software firewall? Stop being a cheapskate and go buy a hardware firewall. Zone Alarm works fine for a normal home PC. Zone Alarm is not meant to be used on servers.
Re:Some windoze essentials by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:04 · Score: 0

Can you recommend any alternatives to ZoneAlarm, then?

Sygate personal firewall
Re:Some windoze essentials by ob1knob777 · 2003-10-08 10:51 · Score: 2, Interesting

I know close to 20 people who have had Zone Alarm installed for awhile and I've yet to hear of any problems from any of them. Even my parents, who are more than a little confused with "all that new fangled computer gadgetry", haven't managed to mess it up yet. I usually install Zone Alarm on every computer I build for people. I'm not saying that the problem you mention isn't real - I just haven't seen it in my experience.
Re:Some windoze essentials by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 11:32 · Score: 0

The IBM software group's official firewall used to be the Norton Firewall. We had so many problems with it, we switched to ZoneAlarm, and it's working a lot better.
Re:Some windoze essentials by Abattoir · 2003-10-08 12:20 · Score: 2, Interesting

You and the other anti-ZoneAlarm people should post what versions have problems, and links to documented problems.

I have ZoneAlarm 3.7.202 and have found absolutely no problems whatsoever. It is extremely easy to install, configure and leave running in the system tray nice and quiet.

Someone mentioned a problem with IMAP - I'd like to know more details about that. I haven't had any problems with IMAP using ZoneAlarm, either.
Re:Some windoze essentials by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 13:15 · Score: 0

I've had personal experience with ZoneAlarm nuking my Windows 2000 problem. It caused some problem with DDE whatever that is, meant I couldn't open any programs. I thought Windows was corrupt or something, did a fresh install, as soon as I installed ZoneAlarm the problem came back.
Re:Some windoze essentials by Reziac · 2003-10-08 17:33 · Score: 1

I happen to prefer ZA 2.1.25 for being lighter weight, but fact is I install whatever version is ready to hand when I need to bring up a new system.

On a few systems, the TrueVector (vsmon) component causes Windows to run really slow or hang. Vsmon can be turned off without significant loss of function (it only scans mail, but I've never seen it catch anything, so AFAICT it doesn't work anyway). Once vsmon is disabled, ZA behaves itself.

On one machine, I had to use the ping-delay trick to load ZA *after* Windows was done coming up, or it acted weird. But it's fine after that.

On a system whose AMD K6-2 300MHz had a known fatal bug (which causes LOTS of problems: linux won't run at all, Windows won't install and once tricked into residence, insists on 16bit mode) ... ZA locked up the machine. But given the CPU bug, I don't think that's ZA's fault.

Anyway, my experience with a gamut of ZA 2.x versions is that while it has the odd quirk now and then, it's not a problem app.

What did they do to the interface? I haven't looked at any 3.x versions yet.

--
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Re:Some windoze essentials by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-09 02:48 · Score: 0

I am looking for a replacement for ZoneAlarm. I configured my web server to pass through ZA and everything works fine until I reboot. Then the web server is still configured the same but ZA will block every incomming connection on port 80. I have to remove my web server from ZA and restart the web server and then reconfigure ZA after every reboot.

Don't install ZA on anything important.
Re:Some windoze essentials by SirGeek · 2003-10-10 18:22 · Score: 1

Wow, that sounds realllllly convenient
No more or less convenient than reinstalling Windoze every 6 months or sooner.
It usually happens after a windoze update is done.

--
UPS Sucks

Browser, mail client = Mozilla by bigjocker · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

I just switched from my Evolution+Mozilla setup to a Mozilla only setup for email, contacts and web.

It has _everything_ I need and the security tools are better (in my opinion) than the ones provided with Evolution: Evolution can use the external gpg system to sign, check signatures and encrypt, but the Mozilla Messenger uses RSA and Digital Certificates with the registered CAs and Personal Certificates, which is a better approach.

And is free as in speech and as in beer, works for windows and linux, and has a lot of plugins available.

--
Life isn't like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.

essential software by VaXiNaToR · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 0

1. Quicken or MoneyDance (personal finance software)
2. MS Office, or OpenOffice 1.1 (office productivity software)
3. Virus Checker, worth the money
4. Nero Cd Burner software (for backups)
5. Mozilla (browser and email clients, free and secure)
6. FreeCiv, (best strategy game for free)

Anything else you want to do is up to you

I declare you offically... by Organized+Konfusion · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

cool

Re:I declare you offically... by thefluxster · 2003-10-08 04:44 · Score: 1

I second your nomination

--
Ever notice how fast Windows runs? Neither did I.

subjects are overrated by deeblite · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

Well, for an email client for Windows, I strongly reccomend The Bat, by tir I swear by it.

Re:subjects are overrated by deeblite · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 1

ummm, RIT labs, not tir. didn't mean to hit submit so soon =)
Re:subjects are overrated by EggMan2000 · 2003-10-08 04:42 · Score: 1

Is the Bat still blocked by some ISPs though? I read that the client is soo good that many spammers use it's scripting capabilities to shoot spam. That's too bad, as I tried it once, and thought it was pretty good. I'm using Mozilla now, and am pretty happy with it. If the Bat has solved it's Blacklist issues, I would consider giving it another try.

--
what? what I thought we were in the trust tree in the nest, were we not?

Web browser by SoCalChris · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

It's probably been said already, but Mozilla Firebird

No pop-ups, easily configurable for no ads, no spyware, no ActiveX crap, and it is free.

For Mac OS X by alchemist68 · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

1. TextEdit
2. BBEdit
3. iTunes
4. iPhoto
5. iCal
6. AddressBook
7. RBrowserLite FTP client
8. Mozilla/Safari
9. X Windows with OpenOffice
10. Q U A K E III A R E N A with a broadband connection.

Re:For Mac OS X by oaklybonn · 2003-10-08 04:41 · Score: 1

Of that list, only BBEdit and Quake are commercial and are going to cost extra. (Possibly RBrowserLite, I've never heard of it since I usually don't use FTP.)

So, how much is your mid range PC going to cost vs. a mid range mac? If money is an issue, you might want to re-evaluate the costs...
Re:For Mac OS X by w3weasel · 2003-10-08 04:50 · Score: 1

1. TextEdit --FREE, included 2. BBEdit -- $100 (worth much more) 3. iTunes --FREE, included 4. iPhoto --FREE, included 5. iCal --FREE, included 6. AddressBook --FREE, included 7. RBrowserLite FTP client $29 ummmm.... FTP in terminal or use dozens of freeware apps (Rbrowser is nice though) 8. Mozilla/Safari --FREE, included 9. X Windows with OpenOffice --FREE, Xwin is included in 10.3 10. TheGimp. total cost above hardware... $100

--
Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest, lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -- Jack Handy
Re:For Mac OS X by randito · 2003-10-08 04:50 · Score: 1

Yes, it is really kewl that apart from DreamWeaver, most of the apps that I use come pre-installed on OS X. I really do spend most of the day with Mail, Safari, iTunes, iCal, AddressBook and Terminal/ssh windows open.
Re:For Mac OS X by the+web · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 1

1. Text Edit
2. BBEdit
3. Classic/office 97 (waiting for native open office)
4. iTunes
5. Clutter
6. Firebird/Safari
7. Transmit
8. Mail (I still drool)
9. For the love of God, any font management tool!!!
10. I'll counter with UT, with broadband ;)

--
__
Thou hast besquirted me, O leotarded one.
Re:For Mac OS X by MCS · 2003-10-08 04:58 · Score: 1

Don't forget Fink Fink is essentially APT-GET for the Mac OS X.

I first heard about this at CUSEC when a Apple Rep described it as the first program he installs on any Mac OSX box he uses.

Why have one piece of sfwr on the list that does one or two tasks, when you can have one piece of sfwr that acts a gateway to get more great sfwr-- I admit this is the "My first wish is for a 1000 more wishes" logic.
Re:For Mac OS X by the+web · 2003-10-08 05:02 · Score: 1

Terminal/ssh windows open.

Then can you answer a question for me? How can I create a database name through macssh terminal? I've been granted permission to create any database named username_(wildcard).

You see, I'm more of a visual learner.

Thanks in advance.

--
__
Thou hast besquirted me, O leotarded one.
Re:For Mac OS X by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:28 · Score: 0

fugu http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/ is a great free GUI SFTP client. Although, Transmit is the best.

SubEthaEdit http://www.codingmonkeys.de is a good free TextEditor, which I haven't used much since I have BBEdit.

Don't forget about ProjectBuider (Free w/Dev Tools)

Must have by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 3, Insightful

dual-boot between Windows XP Home and Mandrake 9.x. Before its arrival in a few weeks I'm trying to think of what 'essential' software I'll need to make a usable home system

Get Partition Magic : as you use get used to both systems, you'll be able to progressively shrink your Windows partition and make your home system more and more usable.

--
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash

Re:Must have by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-09 05:03 · Score: 0

I used to believe in Partition Magic and BootMagic too. Forget them. Use BootItNG instead. It's a lot cheaper, sits outside your OS, allows more than 200 primary partitions, etc., etc.

I've been using "BING" for two years, and couldn't even accept money to go back to PM.

All you really need by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 0

AVG
AdAware
Kazaa Lite
Bittorrent
IE with the Google toolbar

if you install those, you'll get everything you need.

Re:All you really need by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:32 · Score: 0

All you're missing is a decent web browser!

Deus Ex and System Shock 2 by FortKnox · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

I know you said no emphasis on gaming, but without these two games, your life just isn't complete!

--
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!

Re:Deus Ex and System Shock 2 by crazyphilman · 2003-10-08 04:42 · Score: 1

Beware: System Shock 2 wouldn't install on Windows 2000 because of some kind of direct X issue (I wept! and gnashed my teeth, too!).

Does it work on XP? That might be enough reason for me to get an XP-based laptop I've been looking at for a while...

--
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
Re:Deus Ex and System Shock 2 by delus10n0 · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 1

It installed here just fine, on both 2k and XP...

What problem are you having exactly?

--
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
Re:Deus Ex and System Shock 2 by crazyphilman · 2003-10-08 05:00 · Score: 1

When I tried to install System Shock 2 it said it couldn't install direct X (I think it was version 6, it was a while ago) so it couldn't proceed. But if you got it to work on Windows 2000, then, maybe it was a glitch! So that's a good thing for me, eh? I'll give it another whack...

--
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
Re:Deus Ex and System Shock 2 by johannesg · 2003-10-08 05:13 · Score: 1

The problem I'm having here is that the graphics screw up completely, usually when something fires at you or when you walk into a room with radioactivity. I'm trying to play this on Windows ME, DirectX 9, Detonator 44.03...
Annoying: originally it worked fine on this machine, but I don't know whether it is the driver, DirectX, or something else that screwed it up...
Re:Deus Ex and System Shock 2 by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:20 · Score: 0

There's a good chance it'll run near perfectly under Wine. Thief certainly works well enough.
Re:Deus Ex and System Shock 2 by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 13:21 · Score: 0

I also had graphics problems, and lock ups with this game. I later leared from the tech support forums that some Geforce cards don't work well with the game. The problems went away when I switched from a Geforce2 mx200 to a Geforce4 mx 440.
Re:Deus Ex and System Shock 2 by johannesg · 2003-10-09 18:58 · Score: 1

This is too weird - I swapped out my trusty old Geforce 2 GTS (which I had used to complete the game in the first place, a couple of years ago!) and replaced it with a Geforce mx 440 I got from a friend, and now the game runs fine again.
I can't imagine why this happens, but thanks anyway. If anyone needs me, I'll be tackling Shodan ;-)
Re:Deus Ex and System Shock 2 by delus10n0 · 2003-10-15 16:29 · Score: 1

Run the installer with this:

setup -lgntforce

It will skip the NT check and let you install under Windows 2000/XP.

--
Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Just one. by teamhasnoi · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

OS X. ;P

Ok, for real (assuming Windows) - Zone Alarm, Norton A/V, Firebird, Thunderbird.

You might want to investigate http://www.litepc.com as they have finally! released a version for Windows 2000/XP (It removes IE, OE, Media Player and all sorts of other icky-ness) Haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising.

AVG anti-virus by MacBrave · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

I've been using AVG anti-virus Free edition on my WinXP machine at home for a couple months now. It seems to work OK for a 'bare bones' virus checker.

Try it at: AVG Anti-Virus

Re:AVG anti-virus by HermanZA · 2003-10-08 12:01 · Score: 1

www.free-av.de is better

Not so sure on the family titles, but... by WebMasterJoe · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

I can't live without Mozilla and Winamp/XMMS. I have actually gotten used to just using a webmail client for my email so it doesn't matter which OS I'm using, and I have the mp3's stored on a fat32 partition mounted as /music in Linux, and M:\ in windows.

Whatever software you can get for both OS's, get it. I'd definitely have to agree with OO.o if money is an issue, but frankly, Office XP works better, and faster. Sorry, folks, but it's got a lot more dev time behind it and it shows.

--
I really hate signatures, but go to my website.

Here are a few of my favotites by xagon7 · 2003-10-08 04:36 · Score: 1

Can't help you much on the linux side (everythign else is already there in the distro...)

BUT here are a couple of ideas

AGV Antivirus -- http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php

e-mail -- webmail or outlook express

photoediting -- GIMP for windows

AWESOME Browser -- Mozilla Firebird

Open Office

All I can think of.

Only thing you DON't have in this setup is a personal DB like Access, but do you really need that? I also havn't recommended anything specific to your work.. that is up to you.

Good god by sbeast702 · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 1, Funny

This has to be the dumbest Ask /. posts EVER... somebody give him a coke, a smile and a fuckin link to download.com

Re:Good god by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:39 · Score: 0

This has to be the dumbest Ask /. comment EVER...

Most important software for a home pc by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 0

1: gcc
2: vi
3: grep
4: bash
5: Do you really need anything else for a good home pc?

Re:Most important software for a home pc by taradfong · 2003-10-08 04:42 · Score: 1

Finally a bit on sanity. Except I'd add that you gotta use vim, and that recently awk changed my life.

--
Does it hurt to hear them lying? Was this the only world you had?
Re:Most important software for a home pc by gredman · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 0

Sir, you seem to have misspelt zsh. Everything else seems to be in order.

Abiword by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 0

As an excellent, x-platform word processor.

I find OOo to be too bloated, and full of features I'm not going to use. Just like MS Word.

Mac OS X by lithandie · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 0, Offtopic

sure this will get modded as a troll, but if you got this software, you would not need to dual boot between linux and windows.....

Re:Mac OS X by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:31 · Score: 0

Right... you would need to triple-boot

Besides, OS X has yet to run on x86 hardware.
Re:Mac OS X by dosius · 2003-10-08 06:40 · Score: 1

Er, x86? I don't think GNUSTEP works on Darwin yet and that's the closest thing I can think of to OS X on x86. (Best with a Maccy WM... mlvwm seems a bit v0rkz0red though.)

-uso.

--
What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
Re:Mac OS X by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 12:07 · Score: 1

What about Rhapsody DR-2? MacOS GUI, Rhapsody (between OpenStep and Darwin) kernel, and it's free.
Re:Mac OS X by dosius · 2003-10-10 06:09 · Score: 1

That's free? Where? ;)

Granted, it's only like an alpha or a beta, but it's certainly MacOS X.

-uso.

--
What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
Re:Mac OS X by bhtooefr · 2003-10-10 07:13 · Score: 1

Try pre-alpha. I thought that there was a link on the Toasty Technology page's GUI sites section, but I was wrong. It IS possible to find it though, and his e-mail's lineback@toastytech.com - he must have a copy somewhere, seeing that he didn't credit it to someone, like he did Mac OS X.

Top 10 for Mac OS X? by TibbonZero · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 0, Redundant

While we are at it... what does everyone need for OS X? Here's my list:

Msft Office (newest version)

Safari (why use IE?)

Dreamweaver

Quicken

Limewire

Photoshop 7.0

Final Cut Pro

Reason

Protools

Those are just personally what I need to operate well with it... I know those aren't for everyone. I can't even remember what i used on a PC hardly...

--
Tibbon
tibbon.com

Quicken or equivalent by mccalli · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 5, Informative

I came out of University ten years ago, got a job and wondered why I was still broke at the end of every month. I finally bought a spanking new 486 as development/Doom machine, and decided that for that amount of money I'd better try to do something useful with it too.

Quicken.

Now, I have no real experience with alternatives so this is a rant about using financial software in general, not Quicken in particular. However, the use I've got out of that piece of software is astounding. The information it gives you for planning is just priceless. You always know where you are, roughly what to expect, can play with what-if's to check how your situation might change...it's excellent.

Get a home finance package, and get into the habit of using it about once a week. I guarantee you won't regret it.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:Quicken or equivalent by ek_adam · 2003-10-08 09:15 · Score: 3, Insightful

Don't go for the proprietary Quicken. I used it for 7 years and lost significant amounts of data twice due to file corruption issues.

GnuCash works much better, for my needs at least.
Re:Quicken or equivalent by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:35 · Score: 1, Interesting

I once swore by Quicken and routinely purchased the newer versions... still have the originals on 5.25"s. However, their policy of charging for every bit of tech support even when the fault was clearly on their side sapped a bit of enthusiasm. When they came out with their stupid product activation "feature" on Turbotax I swore off of Intuit forever.
Re:Quicken or equivalent by D.+Book · 2003-10-08 09:46 · Score: 2, Interesting

While I must echo the poster's sentiments on getting a program to help organise your finances, I thought I should provide a warning about Quicken. Last year, I purchased the Australian edition of Quicken 2002, and it featured the following:

1) Product activation.
2) Mandatory registration. If you didn't agree with their privacy policy, you couldn't register. And if you couldn't register, you couldn't activate. And if you couldn't activate, the program stopped working after it's run X times.
3) Whenever you reinstalled it, mandatory reactivation by phone was required. And if you didn't give them your correct personal information in your initial registration, you were SOL unless you wrote down your fake identity.
4) If you entered your real phone number when registering by phone, the automated voice would TELL YOU your address. These guys know how to cross-match databases--it's scary thinking what they'd do with your info.
5) If you get so pissed off at the above that you want to sell your copy to some other poor sod, well, sorry, but the mandatory activation/registration scheme forever ties the copy to you. Your nice shiny box and CD and manual are worthless.

Normally I tell this as a "story" because it helps people understand what a bloody soul destroying ordeal the above amounted to in practice. But to save time, I just listed the main points.

Note that I'm not sure how this applies to American versions. As I recall, the Quicken 2002 editions in America didn't have this crap, and after the TurboTax controversy I doubt that the 2003 one would (I seem to recall reading they put advertising in it though). Just do some careful checking (e.g. read the Quicken newsgroups on Usenet) before buying.

FYI, I'm now using GnuCash.
Re:Quicken or equivalent by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:49 · Score: 0

What's a quicken equivalent for linux?
Re:Quicken or equivalent by goat_attack · 2003-10-08 10:50 · Score: 1

Unfortunately, GnuCash seems to have been ported to every platform except windows, which leaves me SOL.
Are there any other good, preferably free, home finance packages out there for windows?
Re:Quicken or equivalent by wbm6k · 2003-10-08 12:31 · Score: 1

I haven't downloaded it or tried them, but AceMoney Lite looks promising.

IngenMoney Pro is another freeware product that looks pretty good. Something screwy with licensing there, though... they say it is freeware for personal use, with a required registration after a year to continue using it.

Free Goodies - Windows and Linux by Ieshan · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 1

First off, I highly recommend Firebird. When switching between the two OSes, the interface will stay the same, which is a big plus.It's free. Thunderbird is their mail client, which handles a whole bunch of different options and tasks. Free as well. www.mozilla.org.

Second: Sygate Personal Firewall, downloadable from Download.com, is a huge boost in security and a *very* configurable firewall for Windows machines. It's free. AVG virus scanner is free and well-updated.

Winamp/XMMS - if you plan on any multimedia, it's a big neccessity. Both free.

GAIM instant messenger. Same deal with Firebird. Free.

If you plan on letting the Computer double as an entertainment center, spring for a cheap TV card. TVTime is excellent free TV Software that's extremely easy to set up and provides amazing picture quality (www.tvtime.net), and FreeVO lets your machine double as a TiVo type recorder (beware, takes a lot of setup and headaches).

First thing by jsse · 2003-10-08 04:37 · Score: 1

you need is Winzip or Winrar.

It's free on Linux but not in XP.

First things after installing windows by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 0

All the service packs (of course)

AVG for antivirus
ZoneAlarm for firewall

Here are some good freebees by JeanBaptiste · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 1

Free Firewall (better than zonealarm)

Free Virus Checker, seems to do pretty well

For all your other free needs

A few items... by Short+Circuit · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 1

Both platforms: Mozilla, OpenOffice

Linux: Samba, SWAT

--
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)

From my "post installation" CD by bo0ork · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 1

From my "post install" CD:

- Ad Aware
- Extract Now
- Mozilla
- Zone Alarm
- Motherboard Monitor
- Total Commander
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Open Office
- BSPlayer

--
Does everything include nothing?

MIKE WITTY IS OFF TEH SPOKE!!!1` by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 0

Congratulation to Mike Witty ib his pcoming nuptuails!

Pricelessware by cybermace5 · 2003-10-08 04:38 · Score: 5, Informative

Go to the Pricelessware site maintained by the alt.comp.freeware Usenet group. On the group, they post and evalute freeware, and the winners make it on to the pricelessware list. Nagware, adware and shareware are frowned upon; the vast majority of the programs listed are no-strings freeware.

--
...

Re:Pricelessware by schwartzekatze · 2003-10-08 09:43 · Score: 1

Lot of good recommendations posted, but this site recomendation is the best tip I've taken from the entire thread. Not only do they have software I've never heard of, they have software *categories* I've never heard of ...
Re:Pricelessware by Reziac · 2003-10-08 17:41 · Score: 1

[goes there, looks] While I don't agree with all their picks (on apps I know well enough to judge), this sure is a nice consolidated listing. Thanks a bunch!!

--
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?

For IM... by CGP314 · 2003-10-08 04:39 · Score: 2, Informative

For instant messaging, I'd go with gaim. Its ability to let you talk to people while leaving an away message up is a lifesaver for avoiding ex-girlfriends.

Re:For IM... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:47 · Score: 0

Programmers have girlfriends, ex or otherwise?
Re:For IM... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 08:55 · Score: 0

I wouldn't. Gaim is way too bloated, buggy, and cumbersome. Try Miranda along with the appropriate protocol plugins.
Re:For IM... by focitrixilous+P · 2003-10-08 10:53 · Score: 1

For instant messaging, I'd go with gaim. Its ability to let you talk to people while leaving an away message up is a lifesaver for avoiding ex-girlfriends.
This is a family situation. I doubt he needs to dodge ex-girlfriends. Also, this is a family situation on slashdot, which means there most likely are no ex-girlfriends to speak of.
Use gaim though.

--
SAILING MISHAP

Start with Emacs by amightywind · 2003-10-08 04:39 · Score: 1

By installing Emacs 21.3 you get:

Text editor/Word processor
Chat
News reader
Web brower
Email client
Address book
FTP Client
Builtin shell
Lots of fun amusements
Multilanguage programming IDE
Lots more...

--
an ill wind that blows no good

Re:Start with Emacs by CaptIronfist · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 1

He's talking family computer here, as in software for newbies who want to start producing in less than 10 minutes of learning curve. Emacs is a crazy suggestion imo! Might as well suggest Vi. Don't get me wrong i think emacs is a very complete production software, it's just not every day joe's tool ( I admit i might be wrong). Think KDE, kmail, konqueror, etc.. those are simpler to use and offer very similar, if not better, functionalities than Windows for free.

Irfanview by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:39 · Score: 2, Informative

The best, lightweight graphics viewer, also does movies and sound clips. Great for slideshows keyboard shortcuts for everything. Even my mum can use it and she can't even use a mouse (seriously)

www.irfanview.com

Game: Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:39 · Score: 0

http://bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewt hread&threadid=44119

Game is free

http://3ddownloads.com/linuxgames/wolf/et/et-lin ux -2.56.x86.run

One of the Best Game in Linux

Linux Top 10 by ospirata · 2003-10-08 04:39 · Score: 1

Here goes my list. I gues you would not need 10 1-OpenOffice.org 2-Mozilla w/Flash,Java 3-Acrobat Reader 4-Mplayer 5-Lopster 6-XV 7-Xmms 8-XTERM ...

Yet another lame Ask Slashdot... by pebs · 2003-10-08 04:40 · Score: 0

Just install Debian and apt-get install whatever you need as the need arises.

--
#!/

He's right! by preric · 2003-10-08 04:40 · Score: 1

Been using AVG as anti-virus for two years now, and it even works with Outlook/OutlookExpress. Have yet to get a virus.

Re:He's right! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:17 · Score: 0

Or atleast on that AVG found :)
Re:He's right! by buffer-overflowed · 2003-10-08 05:19 · Score: 1

You mean, you've yet to get a virus that your free AV software detects.

--
The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
Re:He's right! by instanto · 2003-10-08 05:48 · Score: 2, Insightful

Free AV does not mean it sucks..

Relying in AV software for your false sense of security is not recomended either, atleast not by me :-) - If you notice most virus updates appear AFTER the virus is out in the wild, which is kinda pointless if you already have the virus on your computer.

Maintaining your computer and operating 'safely on the .net' is more important than AV. But atleast - Get it for free - No need to pay money to the useless AV cartells.

--
// instant - "I for one welcome our new Decaff Coffee-Flavoured-Coffee Overlords"
Re:He's right! by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 09:14 · Score: 1

Actually, I've used AVG on my old laptop and the old HP (before it got reloaded) and it caught more viruses than NAV and McAfee combined.
Re:He's right! by Captain+Splendid · 2003-10-08 09:51 · Score: 1

Let's see...I can use AVG, which works, or one of the others, like McAfee or Norton and get bent over and fscked. Tough choice.

--
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!

Lets see... by Lord+Kholdan · 2003-10-08 04:40 · Score: 2, Informative

1) Firewall. You will need a good firewall. I've had good experience with Sygate personal firewall. But I'm by no means expert on this.

2) New Browser. Some people are happy with IE but most appreciate the choice. I suggest Opera. As a plus, that'll also include a mail program but I cant comment about that.

3) Audio. Winamp is the winner here, hands down.

4) Video. If you're unhappy with WMP I suggest ZoomPlayer. Remember to download few codec packs too.

5) This isn't really something to buy but I'll say it anyway. Newest service pack/patches. When starting from a clean table they're much easier to install and it's good to start with a patched computer, even if you're too lazy to keep it that way.

Oh and links:
www.sygate.com
www.opera.com
www.winamp. com
http://www.inmatrix.com/files/zoomplayer_down load. shtml

Those should get you started.

Re:Lets see... by Lord+Kholdan · 2003-10-08 05:05 · Score: 1

Just me to forget most important part of computing. Communication! mIRC(win), KVirc(linux), BitchX(linux), Trillian(win), Jabber.

mIRC and KVirc are both quite good IRC-clients. Warning, might cause addiction on teenagers and lonely housewives.

Linkage:
www.mirc.com
www.jabber.org
www.tril lian.cc
www.kvirc.net
www.bitchx.org

Adobe by JPM+NICK · 2003-10-08 04:40 · Score: 1

Do not foget Adobe Acrobat reader. You will most likely need to open a .PDF sooner or later.

http://download.com.com/3000-2378-10205470.html?ta g=lst-0-1

[offtopic] Google Subscriber? by Zach+Garner · 2003-10-08 04:40 · Score: 1

If you do a google search, google says the article was posted 20 hours ago, despite slashdot just showing it a few minutes ago.

Is this a bug in google or do they have access to the articles before the general public?

Re:[offtopic] Google Subscriber? by An+Onerous+Coward · 2003-10-08 05:34 · Score: 1

Neither. We all know that Google became self-aware years ago, but now it's apparently able to fortell the future.

Some pretty impressive hackers over there, no?

--
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!

Spyware stuff by zapp · 2003-10-08 04:40 · Score: 4, Informative

The best Ad-ware / Spyware removal tool I've found is
SpyBot Search & Destroy

There is also Ad-Aware though.

Other stuff (non spyware related):
Winamp(2x is best)
Trillian/Gaim
Browsers (and mail): IE6, Mozilla, Opera are all fine

I've found both SlickRun and PopupPopper from Bayden Software to be useful as well.

--
no comment

Re:Spyware stuff by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:05 · Score: 0

IE is okay if you don't mind a few bugs that allow remote execution *still* (and it's not even a short list): Unpatched IE security holes.

ZoneAlarm by TheTomcat · 2003-10-08 04:40 · Score: 2, Informative

I was discussing the virtues of software firewalls with my co-workers this morning.

It's REALLY nice to be able to see what's "phoning home", on top of the regular firewall.

There's a free version, too.

S

Re:ZoneAlarm by Karhgath · 2003-10-08 04:56 · Score: 2, Informative

Stay Away from ZoneAlarm. I'm serious. It causes more headaches than anything, have some bugs when unistalling, is generally not very good at doing it's job and takes stupid decisions if you don't configure it correctly from the get-go. It also is the worst UI i've seen.

The best one, in my previous experience as an ISP tech support, is Tiny Personal Firewall. I'm not sure it has a free version(I think it has one, but it's an older build), but it's about 50$ IIRC for the full version. Sygate is also nice.
Re:ZoneAlarm by YomikoReadman · 2003-10-08 05:26 · Score: 4, Informative

I've read over half a dozen posts like this so far, but this is the last on my viewables, so I'll post my reply here.
Personally, I don't see why everyone is bashing ZA. I have been running it since they started releasing a free version, and have never had a single problem ever. On the other hand, I have watched BlackICE, Tiny, Sygate, and every other personal firewall I have tried let everything through that I didn't want coming in. Can ZA be a bit of pain as far as configuration goes? Yes, it can. I personally find it to be a bit of a pain whenever any of my MMOs are patched, because I have to reallow access. On the flip side of that, do I have to worry about script kiddies getting in through my mail or FTP ports? No, I don't because if an IP isn't on my ZA allow list, it doesn't get through, period. As far as an Uninstall bug goes, I have never run into that, while I have had that problem with all the Firewalls I mentioned.

--
I have no regrets, this is the only path.
My whole life has been "UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS"
Re:ZoneAlarm by athakur999 · 2003-10-08 05:55 · Score: 1

Ost99 posted a link to Kerio in a previous comment. I haven't tried it yet, but from the screenshots it looks like a clone of TPF's free version. Kerio may have taken over development for it.

--
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
Re:ZoneAlarm by stanmann · 2003-10-08 06:58 · Score: 1

Kerio is a fork from TPF....

--
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
Re:ZoneAlarm by Animaether · 2003-10-08 06:59 · Score: 1

ZoneAlarm is on my no-no list due to experiences I've had with it supporting clients from work.

Here's the basic thing. We have our own licensing software which runs across a network to support floating licenses.
Licenses get requested and sent on our own ports.
No biggie if the firewall blocks it, just open up the ports right ?

Wrong. At least if you're using ZoneAlarm.

No problem - add the sending/requesting application to the list, right ?

Wrong. At least if you're using ZoneAlarm.

Well, we needed to get the client going, and were pretty sure a firewall or router was the problem as regular packets (say, ping) went through just fine.
So we ask them to just disable ZoneAlarm.

Things should work now, right ?
Right ?

Wrong. At least if you're using ZoneAlarm.
(Oh you *know* you saw that one coming.)

Disabing ZoneAlarm does *not* fully disable ZoneAlarm! *gasp* (read: *wtf*)
I was truely curious so I tried a search on the internet, and found numerous other confirmed cases of this behavior. In fact, we referred the client to the following URL :
http://www.paperbits.com/support.asp?mid=4713

Choice quote :

Now I assumed that since I had shut Zone Alarm down, that it was not still actively filtering info from my pc to my local/internet connection. But for the hell of it I logged back into Zone Alarm and reset all the preferences to low security and allowed access to the internet for all the programs presently configured. Once I did this I again had access to the internet and had the ability to ping my local network.

So, after doing that, things should work now, right ?

Right!
By jove, and that only took 3 hours out of the guy's production day.

So, ZoneAlarm gets no brownie points from us.
Re:ZoneAlarm by Snaller · 2003-10-08 10:36 · Score: 1

No problem - add the sending/requesting application to the list, right ?

Right, no problem.

--
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Re:ZoneAlarm by Wolfrider · 2003-10-08 23:52 · Score: 1

--Now to be honest, I have had problems with an older version of Broderbund Zonealarm Pro running on Win98; but NEVER problems with the free Zonealarm that you can download.

--
.
== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
Re:ZoneAlarm by YomikoReadman · 2003-10-09 01:10 · Score: 1

If you are running the free version on the network, then yes, you will have that problem, as well as being in violation of your EULA. If you are running the pro version, then I still wouldn't recommend a software firewall on a corporate network. You should probably be doing this with an *gasp* actual hardware firewall.

--
I have no regrets, this is the only path.
My whole life has been "UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS"

Top 10 Software titles by cheinz · 2003-10-08 04:41 · Score: 1

I would consider AVG anti-virus and Opera web browser to be the most useful. Both free, or nagware. I would definately install Ad-Aware, which is free. WinRar is a good unzip utility. There was a firewall I once had called HackTracer. It was very good, and I think it was free for non-commercial use. I know ethereal is another app I always install quick.

Mozilla by thinkninja · 2003-10-08 04:41 · Score: 1

Using Mozilla Firebird & Thunderbird for web/mail is great if you're dual-booting linux/XP because it's easy to share profiles between the two OS's.

--
"The number of Unix installations has grown to ten, with more expected." (Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd ed.; june 1972)

Email Client by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:41 · Score: 0

Try mahogany.sourceforge.net for email client

Linux NTFS by Short+Circuit · 2003-10-08 04:41 · Score: 1

Oh! And a 2.6.x kernel. NTFS write support is now stable.

--
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)

Browser/Mail and alternatives to Photoshop.... by ChibiTaryn · 2003-10-08 04:41 · Score: 1

Well, for Browser or Mail, I highly recommend both Opera or Mozilla. Both will handle Mail and Browsing quite well, and a few other nifty things too.

I have used both, and there are features in both that I like... both are free, although one will display ads (Opera) until you purchase a copy.

I strongly suggest downloading a copy of both, and seeing which one you prefer.

If you want Graphics software for any arty things, try the GIMP, or if you want something a little more painty (ie; emulates real painting and drawing materials) Open Canvas is good. I guess it depends what your needs are when it comes to editing or creating pictures.

Quick list by stratjakt · 2003-10-08 04:41 · Score: 1

- Comet toolbar

- Bonzi Buddy

- Gator

- swimming fish screensaver

- "deltree c:\" for Windows partition

- "rm -rf /" for linux partition

--
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!

iTunes by Frightened_Turtle · 2003-10-08 04:42 · Score: 1

A program that's not for gaming and runs almost constantly on my machine: iTunes. And when you need to make about two hours go by real fast, just turn on the visualizer mode. Oh, yeah: and keep a towel handy to soak up the drool while you sit there all strung out on "visual valium."

--

Whew! This water sure is cold!

Re:iTunes by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:07 · Score: 0

iTunes visualizations are crap. Far superior ones are made for Winamp 2.x.
Re:iTunes by pyrros · 2003-10-08 05:47 · Score: 1

I guess us poor windows users can settle with Winamp (if you are using a version before 2.90 I suggest you upgrade if only for the media library. Not as good as itunes but a cool feature none the less).

The included AVS (advanced visualisation studio) is pretty good, and you can easily make your own visualisations. Also, if you really want to send your productivity down the drain i suggest you run winamp, start AVS, enable overlay mode (double click for config, go to settings->dispay), and change the overlay color to black (or whatever you use as the default font color). "Set desktop to color" is optional. Minimize winamp and enjoy.

I don't know about the towel the parent mentioned, but i'd keep a couple of aspirins handy ;-)

[Other cool vis plugins are milkdrop and R2 extreme]

Open Source by HTMLSpinnr · 2003-10-08 04:42 · Score: 1

You can't go wrong with OpenOffice.org on both sides, as well as Mozilla Firebird for your browser and Mozilla Thunderbird for your email. Round it out with gAIM for your all-in-one messaging software. All are free/open source and available on both Win32 and Linux platforms.

--
$ man woman *
-bash: /usr/bin/man: Argument list too long

top 10 software... by simp · 2003-10-08 04:42 · Score: 1

.. for on your windows platform...

1: Mozilla for browsing the web,
2: Mozilla mail as email client,
3: Openoffice for all your office needs,
4: Irfanview for viewing pictures,
5: Mediaplayerclassic for your avi/mpg/wmv files,
6: Gaim for chatting,
7: Free agent for your newsgroups,
8: XP powertoys - Tweakui installed, to that you can change some essential XP settings,
9: Antivir as your antivirus tool,
10: Zone Alarm to protect your machine a bit more.

Re:top 10 software... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 16:13 · Score: 0

>1: Mozilla for browsing the web,

telnet for browsing the web.

>2: Mozilla mail as email client,

telnet as email client.

>3: Openoffice for all your office needs,

cat for creating documents, etc.

>4: Irfanview for viewing pictures,

cat for viewing pictures (some details may not be rendered properly).

>5: Mediaplayerclassic for your avi/mpg/wmv files,

cat for viewing your pr0n (again some details may not be rendered properly).

>6: Gaim for chatting,

Your mouth for chatting.

>7: Free agent for your newsgroups,

telnet for your newsgroups.

>8: XP powertoys - Tweakui installed, to that you >can change some essential XP settings,

Uhh... command-line options for cat and telnet I guess.

>9: Antivir as your antivirus tool,
>10: Zone Alarm to protect your machine a bit more.

The only binaries present are cat and telnet, not much to protect here.

For email try Tunderbird by Lodragandraoidh · 2003-10-08 04:42 · Score: 1

For email, I have set up Mozilla Thunderbird on my wife's Windows XP box - and she loves it.

It has a very smart spam stopping feature, its easy for her to use (non technical person), and it doesn't have all of the virus problems associated with Outlook.

She used to complain about Outlook all of the time on her old system. Since I put Thunderbird on there, I haven't heard a peep out of her; that is testimony enough in my book...

--

Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain

Re:For email try Tunderbird by Lodragandraoidh · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 1

P.S. The Thunderbird client will also work under Linux - so you can have the same interface regardless of which kernel you boot up.

--

Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain

My top 10 by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:43 · Score: 1, Insightful

Email is king when it comes to my desktop, and Evolution is the best I've found. I like the virtual folders, multiple accounts, search capabilities, speed, and looks. There is very little I don't like about Evolution. That's why it's number one with me.
Digital photos are big with me, too. That's why the GIMP, gPhoto, and GQview are all on my top ten list occupying the number 2, 6, and 8 spots.

For my word processing needs, I look to OpenOffice.org. I know. It's not as fast or as polished as StarOffice, but not only does it do everything I need an office suite to do, it's free. That makes it number 3 on my list.

I've been a fan of gnumeric for several years. It's still my favorite spreadsheet for Linux. It weighs in at number 4. Browsers are a different story. I've switched several times, most recently away from Galeon. These days it's Mozilla for me, and it ranks 5th overall.

Number 7 is a game. All work and no play, you know. This little jewel has been played about 75 million times since it was released earlier this year. It's not free as in speech, but Id made it free as in beer. Enemy Territory is great for killing. Time, that is.

My 9th and 10th picks are new apps. New to me, at least. Number 9 is tvtime, a really nifty Linux TV program with spectacular performance. Good enough to hook your game console's TV out up to your TV card and play at the PC, too. And in 10th spot, good enough to rank higher if only I used it more, is Scribus, the great new DTP program for Linux.

OK, those are my picks. Of course your own personal top ten are going to be driven by how you use your Linux desktop, not how I use mine.

Here are mine again, this time in order.

1. Evolution
2. the Gimp
3. OpenOffice.org
4. Gnumeric
5. Mozilla
6. Gphoto
7. Enemy Territory
8. GQview
9. tvtime
10. Scribus

Re:My top 10 by Licinius · 2003-10-08 05:24 · Score: 1

Instead of WinZip, try QuickZip. It's freeware and is very simple to use and supports a fair bit of file types.

www.quickzip.org

--
My other SIG is a 9mm.
Re:My top 10 by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:58 · Score: 0

email is king on your desktop? you asshead

simple enough by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:43 · Score: 0

Top 10 Programs to get the most for your money:
Kazaa Lite
BitTorrent
eMule
Morpheus
Freenet
Direct Connect DC++
WinMX
FTP client
IRC client
Google Toolbar

nice question... by humungusfungus · 2003-10-08 04:43 · Score: 1

I suggest you use Mozilla for web browsing.

Then go to www.google.com and answer the rest of these inane questions in about 30 mins of your own time.

--
No sig.

Non-networked? by yerricde · 2003-10-08 04:44 · Score: 1

Free for non-commercial, non-networked use.

So do you claim that AVG Anti-Virus doesn't protect against viruses and worms that spread through network applications, such as mass-mailing worms?

--
Will I retire or break 10K?

Re:Non-networked? by smackjer · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 1

No, that means that commercial, networked use requires a paid license.

--

This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Re:Non-networked? by nolife · 2003-10-08 05:05 · Score: 1

Even though the free version they offer is not licenced for network use, it will still act on viruses that found on accessed files located on mapped drives. I WAS using free-av which was comparable but would not even scan remote files. I am just pointing this out, not trying to get someone to violate the licence they have on the free version.

--
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.

TextPad or UltraEdit, Preferably TextPad by kannibal_klown · 2003-10-08 04:44 · Score: 1

Depending how technical your uses are, I'd say a different editor than notepad

I personally think TextPad is a GREAT editor. It's 1000x better than notepad could ever be, and now handles large files (100+MB) very well (it USED to be a littel sluggish when searching a 100MB file). It has a clean interface, and does EVERYTHING you could possibly want with version 4.7.1.

However, there a lot of UltraEdit zealots out there too. In someways it is more powerful than TextPad, but I find it's interface and options less intuitive than textpad. UltraEdit is somewhat "messier." And the creator is really big on religion and God. His "About" part of the webpage goes on and on about how God helped him make this and stuff. It's a real turn-off for me to read that.

Either will let you handles large files, tabbed-browsing (or file-list), syntax color/highliting, various formatting, and install themselves into your context menu. I personally install it on all of my family's PC's when they get one (and I visit).

Re:TextPad or UltraEdit, Preferably TextPad by Mryll · 2003-10-08 09:44 · Score: 1

I've been a fan of PFE (Programmer's File Editor) as a simple windows text editor. It's no longer under active development, but sheesh, it's a text editor. :)

Office Browser Mail by jthj · 2003-10-08 04:44 · Score: 1

Open Office for productivity has both windows and linux version. Mozilla for web and email has both linux and windows version. Not sure about Antivirus in Linux but I don't think there is enough viruses for linux to worry about it.

cdarchives by sdibb · 2003-10-08 04:44 · Score: 1

I have a directory on my harddrive called 'cdarchives' where I always keep the latest of my favorites, and occassionaly burn it to a CD so I have a backup, and can hand it to someone on Windows to give them most all the software they need.

Here's a good list of the more common apps I have in there:

AbiWord, AstroGrep, Audacity, BitTorrent, CDex, Cygwin, Enzip, Filezilla, Gaim, Gimp, GSview, LAME, mIRC, Mozilla, Mplayer, Nero 5.5, QuickTime, TweakUI, WinAmp, winLAME

Software by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 0

For linux:
Browser: Mozilla or even better, Firebird
openoffice
email: evolution
irc: xirc
IM: Gaim
xmms with mp3 plugin
mplayer to watch movies. Be sure to get the win32 lib for quicktime and other non standart formats.
Get realone (the beta version build off helix) for their streaming media.

For windows:
Get MS Office from a friend
use firebird for browser. fast and slick...
download winzip, realplayer, quicktime, divx player, windows media player
winamp
IM: AIM, MSN, yahoo, etc...

NEED or WANT? by jbum · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 1

Its hard to think of 10 things you NEED that don't ship with the OS install.

Your linux install will come with all the softare you need (strictly speaking). Your windows install will already have most of what you need, but will be missing a few things:

1. A decent archiving utility that can handle most common formats (not just ZIP). I like Aladdin's Stuffit, but there are others. Winzip, which is quite popular has a shitty interface. Why consumer operating systems don't have better built-in support for archiving, I don't know.

2. Spybot Search & Destroy. Otherwise, plan on having your computer filled with Gator and other unwanted visitors within a few days of moderate usage.

3. A decent anti-virus program (your computer probably ships with a time-limited trial of Norton AV or something similar).

4. An anti-spam filter. I like popmail on the windows side.

5,6,7. Non-microsoft replacements for your media player, email, word-processing etc...

Already, with #5, we're getting into things you don't strictly need, but you might WANT. So
I'll stop listing stuff here.

Re:NEED or WANT? by pyrros · 2003-10-08 05:45 · Score: 1
I'm not trying to start a flame war here, but my experience with winzip vs stuffit is the exact opposite: Stuffit takes ages to start, has a more obtrusive "buy me" notice (10 sec count down), and the interface is horrible:
- The "extact selected" button has no label and looks almost exactly the same as the "add files" one
- It supports dragging files from explorer to an archive, but not the opposite. This alone is a reason not to use stuffit.
- The extract dialog is retarded: it wastes most of the screen space in showing me the files I've already selected, has a text field that's too small for most paths, and the browse dialog can't create new folders. The winzip dialog is much much better and has a lot of useful options. (although it could do with autocomplete cough *winrar* cough).
  
  I might be using stuffit the wrong way, as I have been using winzip for years before i tried it, but i am completely underwhelmed. Also, afaik, stuffit doesn't do rar or ace, but then again neither does winzip.
  
  Winrar has support for more file types than winzip, but winzip's interface just looks and feels nicer. It's not like winrar is ugly or anything but for some strange reason I can't get myself to use winrar over it.
  
  Winace is very good too, but the interface feels a bit strange (draggin and archive to the window moves the archive to the current folder, whereas in winzip and winrar it opens the archive).
Re:NEED or WANT? by jbum · 2003-10-09 06:19 · Score: 1

What I like about stuffit, is that if you double-click on an archive, it does the sensible thing (to me) without presenting you with an unnecessary dialog box.

If the zip file contains a single file, it unzips it into the same folder the archive is in. If the zip contains multiple files, it unzips it into a folder. All archiving programs that work with GUIs should be this simple.

Evolution by v@mp · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 1

I have been using evolution 1.4 (Ximian's version of M$ Outlook) since the day it came out (a few months ago) and it is really solid. It sync's with my Sony Clie (running Palm OS). It interfaces with my LDAP server for storing email and personal contact information. It even shows me the current slashdot news titles and the weather. I couldn't do without it!

Warning: Even though evolutions is great, Ximian's Desktop is terrible!

--
Censorship rests on the child's delusion that "If I shut my eyes so I can't see it, it isn't there".

My Opinions: by cuban321 · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 1

My Personal Opinions (Apps I can think of):

Mozilla Thunderbird: Email client that's still in Alpha but has never given me one problem.

Mozilla Firebird: Greatest web browser around today. Here are some reasons why.

Krusader/Windows Commander: Great file managers. Windows Commander is (obviously) the windows original and Krusader is the KDE based *nix one.

Open Office: You already mentioned this one

GAIM: Best IM client avaliable (I know this isn't exactly productivity software).

AVG Anti-Virus : Free non-commerical use anti-virus.

PuTTY: Telnet/SSH/Rlogin, everything you need for remote access.

XMMS/Winamp: Media Players

I am still looking for good financial software. Microsoft Money is the best I've found so far.
cuban

Audacity by teslatug · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 1

For audio recording and some mixing: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

My list by tedgyz · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 1

Mainstream Virus scanner (McAfee, Norton, ?) - worth the cost
Non-virus-enabled Email client such as Netscape 7 or Mozilla - free
Image viewer - I like ACDSee - small cost
Unix shell - Cygwin - Unix shell amongst the borg - (mostly) free
Zip tool - I prefer PowerZIP - small cost
Telnet/SSH client - PuTTY rules - free
Remote desktop - RealVNC - free
Office tools - er, ahem, ah, MS Office - if you don't have to pay for it - big cost
Text editor - TextPad - small cost
CD/DVD burning tools - Nero, CloneCD, etc. - small cost

--
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai

Re:My list by skinnedmink · 2003-10-10 17:31 · Score: 1

Ummm, I'm not to sure about how legal that last one is.

--
peace be with you.

The mostest needed piece of software is by FuzzyGuru · 2003-10-08 04:45 · Score: 1

Duke Nukem Forever!

--
OK - who stole my duct tape?

Nice software by jvagner · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 1

I use Thunderbird for mail. The best mail client out there, great multi-account handling, and color quoting in the compose window. Available for both Windows and Mandrake.

There are a number of great editors. Ultraedit is relatively cheap and so advanced it's hard to believe. JEdit is pretty good, but has poor file dialogue handling on Windows. gEdit on Mandrake is nice.

If you want to keep a journal on the Windows side, I recommend The Journal. Sweet software.

Get a download manager like GetRight for Windows, master "wget" on Mandrake for big file downloads.

A couple suggestions... by angst7 · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 1

On the Linux side, I think you'll find much of what you need included in your Mandrake distribution. A brief list of things to look for:

1. Open Office (Excellent, though I find myself using gnumeric for alot of spreadsheet things still)
2. The Gimp (You'll always need to edit graphics)
3. Evolution (This is all I ever use anymore for email)
4. GAIM (Assuming you'll do instant messaging)
5. Transgaming WineX or Crossover Office (Even though you wont be doing primarily gaming, this is a handy way to make wine useable)
6. Firebird / Galeon or Mozilla (I used to use galeon, but I use Firebird now, it's excellent.)
7. XMMS (Because everyone needs music)
8. MySQL with the ODBC connection stuff properly configured with OpenOffice - this is lovely when you get it working.

For your Windows system, the list looks suprisingly similar. I still prefer GAIM to avoid all the advertising, OpenOffice to avoid paying nearly $1000 for the Microsoft alternative, Firebird would be nice but Evolution isn't available, so you may consider either Thunderbird or the full Mozilla suite. The Gimp for graphics, cause Photoshop doesnt offer that much more for the $800 price tag.

On a related note, since you are setting this up new, I would consider Red Hat 9 instead of mandrake. I used mandrake myself until Red Hat 8 came out, but I have been very impressed by the work they've done in making updates painless through the Red Hat Network tool, and in bringing a nice polish to both Gnome and KDE. Kudos!

Finally, whatever you do, put the box behind a firewall and save yourself alot of grief.

--
StrategyTalk.com, PC Game Forums

it's you! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 0

you're the guy who downloaded it! we were trying to track you down.

I'd just like to thank you for recommending Opera. We're hoping someone else downloads it to double the user base!

Thanks again.

Opera Software Inc.

Re:it's you! by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 10:16 · Score: 1

And I've downloaded two copies - one for my desktop, and one for my school boxes (installed on a network drive). Seriously, many people use Opera. There are HUGE support groups for it. In other words, STFU, troll.

Firewall, Compression, Imaging, Music for Windows by StandardCell · 2003-10-08 04:46 · Score: 1

Firewall - Kerio Personal Firewall - bloat-free firewall, very small memory footprint, extremely powerful, and it's free.

Compression - 7zip - compression utility that handles virtually every format, integrated into UI, and it's free.

Imaging - Irfanview - image viewer handles virtually all image formats, plays Flash and video, plus can thumbnail, batch-convert, retouch, and it's free.

Music - Winamp - Plays virtually all music formats (including WMA without the DRM annoyances), plus 2.91 now plays video and streaming video, and it's free.

The key here is these programs are capable replacements for a lot of more expensive pay programs. For example, Norton Firewall, Winzip, ACDsee together come to about $200 retail.

My suggestions: by Noryungi · 2003-10-08 04:47 · Score: 3, Interesting

Let's see...

Here is what I use every day:

Windows email: Pegasus Mail or Sylpheed/Claws
Windows antivirus: AVG antivirus
Windows browser: Firebird
Windows office: Open office + MS Word (ugh!)
Windows editor: vim/Gvim
Windows firewall: ZoneAlarm, Note Tab
Windows ripper: CDEx
Windows Multimedia: WinAmp3
Windows audio: Audacity
Windows graphics: The Gimp, Iview32
Windows SSH: PuTTY
Extra: Unix command-line tools for Windows.

Linux email: Sylpheed
Linux antivirus: N/A
Linux browser: Gaelon or Firebird
Linux office: Open Office or Ted + PostGreSQL + GNUmeric + ...
Linux editor: vim/gvim
Linux firewall: IPTables... ;-)
Linux GUI: XFCE
Linux Multimedia: XMMS
Linux Audio: Audacity
Linux Graphics: The Gimp, Gnome Viewer
Linux SSH: OpenSSH (what else?!) :-)

Etc... etc... I could go on and on but most of the programs I use really are free software or freeware.

--
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)

Re:My suggestions: by markhb · 2003-10-08 04:58 · Score: 1

Second the nomination for Pegasus Mail for Windows, probably the most feature-rich gratis Windows mail client in existence (but I'll put in a plug for sending David money :). Check out the message sorting capabilities, the fact that it's natively a LAN-based multi-user client, the cool History and philosophical statements by the author in the Help menu.

--
Save Maine's economy: write stuff down. All comments are exclusively my own, not my employer.
Re:My suggestions: by tokul · 2003-10-09 04:33 · Score: 1

Linux antivirus: N/A
ClamAV

Here's my list by Jim+Hall · 2003-10-08 04:47 · Score: 1

... I know I can get something like Open Office for word processing, presentation, etc. needs, but is there such a good thing as a good free virus checker? A good free email client? A handy web browser? ...

What is everyone's predisposition for zero-cost software?? Sometimes, it doesn't hurt to shell out a little cash for something you appreciate.

That said, here's my list:

StarOffice 7 (or the latest OpenOffice)
Mozilla or Opera or ... (browser)
Mozilla Mail or Evolution or ... (email)
XMMS or WinAmp (music player)
a personal firewall (or iptables at HIGH security, if you have Linux)
Instant messaging
Anti-virus software (if you run Windows ... for Linux, I haven't bothered yet.) Don't be afraid to spend money here. You do need to keep Windows protected.

Okay, it's not a full list of 10, but those are at the top of my recommendations.

Google Toolbar by jmoriarty · 2003-10-08 04:47 · Score: 1

Assuming you use IE as a browser (which I assume the majority of my fellow posters will advise against) the Google Toolbar is a must have.

It's a double must-have for a family system for the searching power it brings to computer neophytes.

Every home should have... by moof-hoof · 2003-10-08 04:47 · Score: 0, Offtopic

at least one copy of Mac OS X.

Oh, you said PC?

Proxomitron by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 0

For Windows: Proxomitron - http://www.proxomitron.info/

A free, very configurable web filter-proxy that is one of the first things I install on a new system. Not only doesit remove those obnoxious pop-up advertisements, it also removes most banner ads completely. When you find a site that it does not block, just add it to a textfile. This makes the web a much nicer place to be.

Re:Proxomitron by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:46 · Score: 0

mod up the parent!

proxomitron is a great help in making the web useful again.

is there something like this for linux??

Some free and some Free by Ost99 · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 1

Some free, Free and not so free applications:

WebbrowserMozilla Firebird (Win / linux) Email Eudora (win) Evolution (linux) Office suite OpenOffice.org 1.1 (win / linux) SSH client putty (win) openssh (linux) Videoplayer VLC (win / linux) or BSPlayer (win) and Xine (linux) Editor Textpad (windows) Kate (linux) Chat Jabber PSI (win / linux) Firewall Kerio (win) Anti virus F-Secure (not free) (win) - Ost

--
---- Sig. gone.

Spy Bot Search and Destroy by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 0

I have to fix my parents and siblings computer all the time. They download so much crap and install it that they get TONS of spyware and adware installed on there computer. I installed Spy Bot Search and Destroy http://www.safer-networking.org/ and it never fails to stop it all. It stops things such as random popups, wierd memory usage cause most likely from spyware. Its the greatest peice of software ever! Oh and its completely free :)

My Recommendations by Jack+Comics · 2003-10-08 04:48 · Score: 0

Here are my recommendations, a being Windows and b being Linux -

1 A and B) OpenOffice

2 A and B) Opera until Mozilla Firebird reaches version 1.0

3 A) Pegasus Mail
3 B) K-Mail

4 A) NOD 32 Anti-Virus
4 B) F-Prot Anti-Virus

5 A) Adobe Photoshop Elements
5 B) The GIMP

6 A) Trillian
6 B) Kopete

7 A) Windows Media Player
7 B) MPlayer and XMMS

8 A) UltraEdit
8 B) gVim

Not exactly ten, but that's all I could come up with off the top of my head. I'm quite sure others will fill in the blanks.

--
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde

RTFI : HE SAID FAMILY MACHINE by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:49 · Score: 0

yeah lets just spout off random developer application names, my Granparents just LOVE Dev-C++ compiler

dickhead at least read the intro of the article, i cant belive you got modded up

Remember when "Solitare" was only $80 by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:49 · Score: 0

How times have changed >:(

Re:Remember when "Solitare" was only $80 by spectecjr · 2003-10-08 09:30 · Score: 1

"Solitaire" only $80?

When was that, pray tell?

Aren't you mixing up full retail price with the upgrade price?

--
Coming soon - pyrogyra
Re:Remember when "Solitare" was only $80 by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 11:11 · Score: 0

I think Windows 3.0 bundled with a mouse might have sold for $80.

Here are some free alternatives by lederhosen · 2003-10-08 04:49 · Score: 1

Mozilla for web/mail
Open Office for office replacement
The Gimp for bitmap graphics
Sodipodi for vector graphics
Gaim for instante messaging

*ALL* of which exist for both win and unix.
I.e you do not have to learn different applications.

X11amp/mplayer for media on unix.

free AV for both platforms by dmorelli · 2003-10-08 04:49 · Score: 1

Free antivirus: for Linux I use F-Prot Antivirus http://www.f-prot.com/index.html for Windows I use AntiVir Personal http://www.free-av.com/

The first things I load on new Windows boxes... by Steve+G+Swine · 2003-10-08 04:49 · Score: 1

...are the SysInternals tools just in case I want to be serious about what the box is doing, and the Textpad editor in case I want to be serious about editing.

And it's never a bad idea to have the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer handy.

--
"Consider yourself a member of a virtual corporation with Mr. Torvalds as your Chief Executive Officer." - Linux Advocac

Kerio Firewall, Norton Ghost. by Tackhead · 2003-10-08 04:50 · Score: 2, Informative

> Openoffice and Zonealarm.

Kerio Personal Firewall.

Kerio is a rules-based GUI-configurable software firewall tool. It ain't a hardware firewall, but it's IMO much more configurable and flexible than ZoneAlarm.

And Norton Ghost. Because if you're smart enough to keep your personal data on a separate partition from the OS and applications, re-dumping a partition takes 15 minutes when things get b0rk3d, thereby beating the fuck out of reinstalling Winblows and downloading patches.

Top software picks for MS Windows by jmodule · 2003-10-08 04:50 · Score: 1

In no particular order, this is what I use the most:

Eudora
Opera
OpenOffice.org
Grisoft's AVG

The only thing I want to know is when is GnuCash going to be ported to windows (or is that tantamount to blasphemy)? :-/

--
The jModule

This "Ask Slashdot" is teh 5uXX0rz by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:50 · Score: 0

What's next?

Ask Slashdot: Top Ten Albums of All Time

This is the lamest Ask Slashdot in a while.

other programs by t0ny · 2003-10-08 04:50 · Score: 1

I think a pop-up stopper is essential. I used to use History Kill, but it isnt free (and I suspect its kind of buggy).

I always used to Google toolbar, but now it has a pop-up stopper. Which is just another reason to use it!

I also recommend Ad-Aware by Lavasoft (www.lavasoftusa.com); this program will remove any spyware that may get on your computer. The basic version is free, and the updates are free.

Last, you NEED a firewall. The best I have encountered is from www.zonelabs.com- it is called ZoneAlarm. The basic version is free, but the higher versions have some really nice features. If you would find the features useful, its a reasonable investment.

--

Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.

Re:other programs by Schrodinger's+Mouse · 2003-10-08 05:06 · Score: 1

Pop-up blocking is built into Mozilla and Mozilla Firebird. (Yet another reason to switch.)

--
*****
There are many people in this country who, through no fault of their own, are sane.
Re:other programs by aldoman · 2003-10-08 05:09 · Score: 2, Informative

Mozilla Firebird has the best popup blocker ever.

All popups are blocked by default. If you run into one of those dodgey websites that spring a nice flash window right up in a popup, you just click the little Blue 'I' icon, press 'unblock' and refresh.

Also, if you want to open a link which opens in a popup, double click on it. That lets Firebird know that you really want this and it isn't a popup ad attached to a link.

0.7 is nearly finished (its out roughly the same time Moz 1.5 is out) and it is far better than the others. Better password manager, web sidebars etc.

Personally, I think firebird has a little while to go for the 'great unwashed' but most of the problems will be fixed by 1.0. How about an intellegent web installer that only installs the things you want? Basic browser? Choose the basic option. Developer? Choose the developer option and get a bunch of useful web development extensions downloaded and built in. RSS/Blog maniac? Choose the news option etc.

Personally if Mozilla Firebird moves quicker, I can't see why PC manufacturers won't load it as default. Dell could advertise they have a 'custom' web browser with popup and ad blocker. Dress it up with a custom Dell skin, and they can make it seem like they have made a brand new browser.

--
IntechHosting - Free domain, 2GB, PHP, £4.95/$8.95
Re:other programs by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:18 · Score: 0

just so you understand why i modded you troll.. it's because you are giving people pop up blocking browser advise without mentioning mozilla. There are many reasons to use mozilla on windows and not only because it blocks popups, also because msie has more holes than swiss cheese and hackers are exploiting it.
Re:other programs by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:20 · Score: 0

how in the hell did the parent get a "troll" mod?
Re:other programs by ShawnDoc · 2003-10-08 05:20 · Score: 1

If you use Mozilla or one of its offspring, a popup blocker is included.
If you must use IE, download the CrazyBrowser (Tabs and pop-up blocking) enchancement. Or use Proxomitron, the ultimate pop-up/flash/ad blocker.
Re:other programs by cens0r · 2003-10-08 05:32 · Score: 1

I actually prefer the opera browser myself... of course the ads are a turn off to some, and most aren't willing to pay for a browser. I love the mouse gestures and pop up killing. I also love the way it integrates with the mail client. It took getting used to but now I don't think I could ever switch from the m2 client.

--
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
Re:other programs by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 07:29 · Score: 0

"I think a pop-up stopper is essential. I used to use History Kill, but it isnt free (and I suspect its kind of buggy)...I always used to Google toolbar, but now it has a pop-up stopper. Which is just another reason to use it!"

Surely people aren't still using Internet Explorer? It takes less time to install a modern browser than it does to configure IE to less-insecure, and wasting time installing popup blockers and search toolbars and all kinds of stuff to make it imitate Mozilla is just taking the piss.

Internet Explorer isn't suitable for use in the modern internet, it hasn't been for years.
Re:other programs by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 08:09 · Score: 0

"Surely people aren't still using Internet Explorer?"

Are you for real?
Go out and meet some people, moron.
Re:other programs by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 08:11 · Score: 0

just so you understand why i meta-modded you unfair.. it's because you are a pompous windbag with a cock up your ass. Perhaps he doesn't use Mozilla, and therefore doesn't know that it has built in pop-up blocking. Just because you use Mozilla, doesn't mean everyone else has to. Post a reply stating that Mozilla has pop-up blocking. Don't mod a useful post as a troll. You are a stupid fucking jerk, and the reason that slashdot sucks.

Fuck You.
Re:other programs by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:21 · Score: 0

There is a mouse gestures plug-in for Firebird.
Re:other programs by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 09:31 · Score: 1

I never did like the mail client. I switched to Eudora, because I never got used to the layout. Of course, the ads are rather easy to get rid of (do some googling). I don't use the mouse gestures (they're great if you use the mouse, but I almost entirely use the keyboard), but they are still useful. Pop-up killing is great though. Only the occasional wanted pop-up can't load, and none of the unwanted ones load.
Re:other programs by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 09:33 · Score: 1

It takes less time to install a modern browser than it does to configure IE to less-insecure,

Yes, but nearly nobody configures it to less-insecure. I do agree that it's not suitable for the modern Internet, but some locations allow plugins but not new apps, so no Opera/Moz/(insert favorite browser here) on those boxes.
Re:other programs by cens0r · 2003-10-08 09:45 · Score: 1

I know that there is a mouse gestures plug-in for firebird. But I just prefer it being built-in in this case.

--
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
Re:other programs by cens0r · 2003-10-08 09:47 · Score: 1

I hated the layout at first as well. It took some getting used to. Now I don't know how anyone can use any other layout. I love how it organizes anything. If I'm trying to find a message it will show up in multiple places if necessary. I can find messages easily without searching and without re-ording, and without keeping multiple copies.

--
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
Re:other programs by t0ny · 2003-10-08 15:07 · Score: 1

to switch what? He is talking about free programs, and you are trying to create some stupid browser war arguement.
Google toolbar, in itself, is a great thing. But adding in the pop-up blocker only makes it better. As I already stated.
BTW, Nutscrape was the reason I switched to IE, and I have been a happy user ever since. I see no compelling reason to switch back, but thats just my own feelings. You are free to feel otherwise.

--
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.

7-zip by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 0

7-Zip is a file archiver with highest compression ratio.

7-Zip is free software distributed under the GNU LGPL

Supported formats: 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB

http://7-zip.org/

For WWW and Email... by Eslyjah · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 1

I would go with Mozilla Firebird and Mozilla Thunderbird. They are free, full of handy features, smaller than the full Mozilla, in active development, and available for both Windows and Linux.

My $0.02.... by Raxxon · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 1

Suggestions for Windows:

Browser: Mozilla Firebird.
EMail: Mozilla Thunderbird

Personally I don't like the way the Mozilla mail client is setup, but Thunderbird works quite well. If I'm not going to use the Email from Mozilla, no sense in installing it so go with Firebird.

AntiVirus: I've seen AVG being named, and personally I don't like it. I've had TOO many users bring in their computers and ask me to replace it with Norton or McAfee. If you're not opposed to On-Line (meaning no automatic protection) scanning you can hit Housecall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com). It's been fairly good thus far, but if you're on Dialup it's a pain in the ass.

Office Suite: Open Office or Star Office. Take your pick. Personally I never do enough in an office suite to bother with it. The limited word processing that I do can be handled with WordPad or KWrite in general.

FTP Client: FileZilla. Look for it on SourceForge.

SSH Client: For Windows (unless you install Cygwin) the only free SSH client I can think of is puTTY, and I'm not that impressed with it other than it's super tiny and really portable.

X Server: Again, unless you run Cygwin, I'm not sure there is a 'free' one out there.

CDBurner: Again, unless you run Cygwin and are able to compile one of the open source burners, I think you're hosed here. Nero is now $100... bah.

MP3 Player: WinAmp 2.9. The 3.0 line is just too damned bloated and annoying IMO. Just make sure you check your system for spyware after installing. ;)

These are all the major things that come to mind for me other than games (check your local emulation website... NES/SNES/Genesis, etc) or work-specific things that I use. Hope that helps.

Another free Antivirus option by supersmike · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 1

House Call - www.antivirus.com

I use this whenever I'm on someone else's machine and they don't have an AV program installed.

Try iMesh light by arcite · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 1

But whatever you use, get Ad-aware...you will need it. :)

Free Games by slappy_guru · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 1

Try America's ARMY or Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Excellent free games.. :)

www.americasarmy.com

http://www.battle-fields.com/review.php?reviewid =7 1

--
"Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it" Richard Feynman

Well, it's not ten, but whatever. by Mahtar · 2003-10-08 04:51 · Score: 1

In no particular order:

1. Partition Magic - PM comes in handy more than you'd think. If you're in a Win32 environment and have more than one disk or partition, it's an absolute must-have. Great for transferring data, arranging partition, etc., etc. And let's be honest--the shiny little GUI is just way more convenient than disk druid/FDISK/whatever.

2. Mozilla Firebird - I'm sure I won't be the first or last to mention it, but it more than deserves the recognition. It's essentially a more compact version of Mozilla. Free, obviously, and comes with built-in pop-up blocking, tabbed browing, and pretty much anything else you can imagine via extensions. Far and away the superior compared to IE, and generally better than the default 'nix mozilla variants as well.

3. Mozilla Thunderbird - The companion (though standalone) email client to Firebird. Fairly robust, easy to use, etc. And without all the security hassle of Outlook ;).

4. Virus scanner - Trend Micro has an excellent (free) online virus scanner/sweeper available here [trendmicro.com]. McAfee/Norton and their ilk are, I find, grossly intruisive and generally a pain in the ass. No, an online scanner doesn't have the advantage of constant vigilance, but that shouldn't be a problem for a security-minded user.

5. WINE - WINE [winehq.com] is no doubt known to you, but one can't underestimate its usefullness. At the very least, it's a big timesaver for situations when you're booted into Linux, but want to run a Win32 app.

No need for Windows by 101percent · 2003-10-08 04:52 · Score: 1

Since you mention money as an issue I would recommend not purchasing Microsoft windows and definitly not installing an unauthorized version. Windows is not free software as in the Spanish word freedom. I personally believe that software such as GNU/Linux, BSD, Gnome, and KDE have all reached a state where you as a non-technical user will have no problem getting along with and find useful in your daily computing experiences. Openoffice is one of the most advanced office suites available today, with admitably less-than-perfect importing of certain non-free software formats, but for the most basic stuff that I would guess more than half users use the filters are fine. Gnome has just released their office suite at version 1.0, and I personally believe that the spreadsheet program Gnumeric is the most advanced GUI spreadsheet program that exists today. As far as browsers you have several choices for free software platforms, such as Galeon, Epiphany, Mozilla, Firebird, and konqueror. The binaries you would aquire for those cross platform browsers are most likely goin to be more stable on the platform that the developers use, which is largely free software systems.

I personally see no practical reason to purchase Microsoft products. I am ethically opposed to using and recommending their products, although I realize that sometimes we don't have a choice, whether at work or at school. In this case you do have a choice. If you value your freedom I would recommend choosing and using free software. If you don't value your freedom than that's fine you don't deserve it anyway.

Go to http://www.gnu.org/philosophy to read more about free software. I hope you consider the points there when choosing software for your new computer.

May I also mention that most of the software you need such as Anti-Virus is platform specific and you'll not need these applications on free software operating systems.

I am one to give technical credit where it is due, but honestly I think Linux or BSD is your best bet in todays world. You are the person who has to decide.

must have windows apps by masterbrox · 2003-10-08 04:52 · Score: 1

Here are my most favorite windows apps. Some are free. All at least have trials. They are in no particular order.

Firewall: BlackIce
Virus Scanner: AVG Anti-Virus
Instant Messaging: Trillian
Movie Player: BSPlayer
Web Browser: Slim Browser
Mail Client: The Bat!
Taskbar Improvement: True Launcher Bar
SpyWare Protection: Spybot Search & Destroy
File Compression: Win Rar
Hex Editor: Hex Workshop
Audio Player: Winamp
Ternimal Emulator (telnet/ssh/etc): SecureCRT

For Windows, GNUWin II would be a nice start by Dead_Smiley · 2003-10-08 04:52 · Score: 1

Go here and check it out. http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/

I burn the ISO and give it to friends and family.

--
I know what the Internet is, what the hell is this Interweb business?!

Mozilla, another plug :) by timothy · 2003-10-08 04:52 · Score: 1

Yes, Mozilla is a nice web browser.

And it's a decent HTML composition tool, if you like that sort of thing.

And it includes a quite nice (really!) IRC client. Is it as nice as xchat is on nix? No -- but it's close enough that in a pinch, you need not feel pinched. I used to laugh at the IRC client but use it sometimes anyhow, out of necessity, for instance on a borrowed Windows desktop. Now, it's got a perfectly nice GUI, workable as an all-day client.

And it's a good mail client, with intelligent spam filtering, which is quite presentable to Outlook users.

And bittorrent integrates well.

Blocks popups, handles tabs intelligently (though no accounting for taste, and I have my peeves with this aspect), has a good bookmark-filing system, good keyboard controls ...

Plus, if you're dual booting, it's nice to have an app like Mozilla that's so cross platform it's not funny :) You don't have to readjust much to switch between.

timothy

--
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5

Definitely Winamp by Erioll · 2003-10-08 04:53 · Score: 1

I'm suprised nobody else thought of it yet.

As for me, my list is:
Mozilla: Like many others, this is the 1st thing installed after my drivers (and often before, to get the newest off the net). www.mozilla.org

Winamp: I install this early too, and should have thought of it. Credit goes to the parent though. classic.winamp.com

Java: The full mozilla installer SHOULD take care of it for you, but make sure that nothing went wrong. java.sun.com

Macromedia Flash: Too many websites out there need this, so make sure you have it, though Mozilla should be able to re-direct you if you hit a page and don't have it. www.macromedia.com

Quicktime: For Linux, mplayer is what you need, but for Windows, get it. Very useful. www.apple.com/quicktime

Openoffice: I don't see the need to use MS when you have this. It works for virtually everything. www.openoffice.org

Acrobat Reader: You're bound to get it with SOMETHING you install, but go to adobe.com to get the latest just in case. www.adobe.com

PkZip: People like WinZip, and XP has a compression utility built-in, but I still use an old shareware version of PkZip (They INVENTED .zip) that works great. No frills, and does the job. www.pkware.com

Don't think that there's anything else I use on a regular basis that's not a game or something.

Erioll

My Choices by rossz · 2003-10-08 04:53 · Score: 1

OpenOffice to cover word processing and other office utilities.
Pegasus for email.
Mozilla Firebird for the browser.
PuTTY to connect to your linux server (you do have one of those, right?).
Winamp to play your music.
ActivePerl because Perl scripts are so damn handy, regardless of the platform.

--
-- Will program for bandwidth

A Few by rmohr02 · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 1

Mozilla Firebird
Mozilla Thunderbird
OpenOffice.org
AVG Anti-Virus
Gaim
VLC Media Player
Spybot Search & Destroy

keeping control of your machine by Aidtopia · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 1

For Windows:

virus checker
spyware checker
firewall (that checks outbound stuff)
spam filter
browsing proxy that anonymizes and blocks ads (including popups)

Isn't it obscene how much software we need to run just to maintain control of our own machines?

It's very easy... by rampant+mac · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 1

Step 1: After you get your PC home and set it up on your broadband connection, ignore Windows Update. Trash your virus scanner.

Step 2: Wait a few hours/days/weeks and Windows is so helpful it installs lots of grrreat software without taking away any of your precious time! Some of the great shareware/freeware titles you can expect are: CodeRed, Nimda, SoBig.F, Slammer, Gator Advertising, Xupiter and more!

Step 3: There is no step three!

--
I like big butts and I cannot lie.

You guys have forgotten.. by tka · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 1

..gmplayer! You got to have a program for watching pr0n...

Quicktime also has its uses by arcite · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 1

Besides being able to stare at the Apple logo on your window's desktop :)

Re:Quicktime also has its uses by GlassUser · 2003-10-08 05:05 · Score: 1

quicktime doesn't touch my computers.

--
funny munging
Re:Quicktime also has its uses by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:51 · Score: 0

Congradulations.... you've reserved the right to not download a codec... good for you.
Do you want a cookie?
Re:Quicktime also has its uses by achacha · 2003-10-08 08:25 · Score: 1

RealPlayer is another "never install" software. It's the closest thing to a purchasable virus, it infects your system pretty badly but wedging itself everywhere you don't want it to be and takes some serious effort to recapture it. It should be in a category of its own called "AnnoyingWare".
Re:Quicktime also has its uses by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 09:42 · Score: 1

Hmm, I've got RealOne not taking over my box (it was either that, or not playing RealAudio/Video). You do it by deselecting all of the default filetypes, and disabling asking about filetypes. RealPlayer (the predecessor to Real1) is worse - it DOES whine about updates all the time. BTW, RealOne is available for Linux, so be cautious.
Re:Quicktime also has its uses by GlassUser · 2003-10-08 09:43 · Score: 1

That's the other one I regularly refuse to install on my system. Wootle.

--
funny munging

Requirements Could Use Some Tweaking by Chibi+Merrow · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 1

Are you absolutely positively sure you want to use Windows XP Home instead of the much better XP Professional or even better 2000 Professional? I've had nothing but heartache with the PCs that my family members have bought that have XP Home on them...

Otherwise, people have already suggested Mozilla and a few have suggested Mozilla Firebird, which I myself think is a far superior mail product. Mozilla Thunderbird is what I use for mail at home right now, but it's an acquired taste.

Ad-Aware is indispensable. Every PC should have a copy of it.

For image viewing Irfan View is probably the greatest thing in the world.

You'll of course need WinZip and you'll need the DiVX codec and unfortunately you'll also need Quicktime and Shockwave for numerous braindead (and not so braindead) websites along with the latest Java VM. Besides that, the rest is left up to personal taste. I'd suggest a copy of MS Office because OpenOffice makes me want to gnaw my arm off but then again that's also partially because I can buy Office on student discount at the University Bookstore.
Oh, and get a BitTorrent client from somewhere.

--
Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them

Re:Requirements Could Use Some Tweaking by green+pizza · 2003-10-08 05:18 · Score: 1

Are you absolutely positively sure you want to use Windows XP Home instead of the much better XP Professional or even better 2000 Professional? I've had nothing but heartache with the PCs that my family members have bought that have XP Home on them...

I'm not too current with Windows (I use NT4 and 2K)... but aren't XP Home and XP Pro essentially the same thing with a few networking differences, the max of one CPU for home, and a few other changes in the default settings?
Re:Requirements Could Use Some Tweaking by Chibi+Merrow · 2003-10-08 06:34 · Score: 1

That's what I thought, too, until I had the misfortune of people in my family buying PCs with it preloaded. Their PCs seem constructed from some form of pure malice and pain obviously scooped up from one of the infinite planes of the Abyss and molded into a form that pretends to be a usable PC. In almost every case the machine has required a reformat within a matter of months. Granted, it's not as bad as Windows ME... But yech...

Compared to XP Home, Win2K is like living out your life in some pristine calm and cool forest where all your needs can be provided for with only a slight effort. Since I needed multiple CPU support on my home machine and didn't want to pay the extra $100 for Win2k Pro, I've got XP Pro and after my HD dying and being forced to reinstall it on the new HD it's been rather bearable.

--
Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them

Here's my list. by Big+Sean+O · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 1

Safari: free with OS
Mail.app: free with OS
iTunes: are you seeing a trend?
iPhoto: yadda yadda yadda.
Meteorologist: open source menubar desktop weather report.
Fink: open source package manager for *nixy stuff.
BBEdit: the text editor. It doesn't suck (r) ($179)
Microsoft Office: If you've got kids in school, you can get the educational version. ($149)
Neverwinter Nights: my current gaming obsession. ($50)
Quicken ($60): my wife swears by it.

Oh, you need a mid-level laptop?

Might I recommend the iBook (12.1" at $999)? Who wants to dual boot anymore?

--
My father is a blogger.

Top 10 for linux: by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 0

Top 10 for linux:
Mozilla
OpenOffice
xmms
mplayer
gaim
gimp
eroaster
grip
audacity
gnome-games

Re:Top 10 for linux: by mangancha · 2003-10-08 14:14 · Score: 1

I do not know about eroaster... but k3b is great!

My top 10 = Gnome/KDE by nuggz · 2003-10-08 04:54 · Score: 1

Well since I'd be taking care of it, I wouldn't run Windows.

Gnome or KDE desktop. Provides the little tools media players and stuff.

Mozilla/Galeon for browsing.

Kmail is nice for email.

Openoffice if you need it.

gnucash for finances.

Most everything else is taken care of with an assortment of apps in Gnome or KDE

Re:My top 10 = Gnome/KDE by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:41 · Score: 0

Congratulations, you're an idiot.

The question wasn't "which OS would you choose?"
It wasn't "how would I react in a given situation?"

It was about which Windows freeware is worth considering.

And you respond with what amounts to essentially Linux/BSD software, which is completely useless in this context.

So, way to go for being a complete arse.

If you want something free by Asacarny · 2003-10-08 04:55 · Score: 1

I switched from Linux to Windows because I got sick of tinkering. Although I happily run Windows XP on my laptop, much of the software that I use from day-to-day has not changed. I make an effort to run programs which are free (especially those that are open-source), since piracy really isn't the right way to go. Here are 10 open-source must-haves for Windows systems.
1. Mozilla - For browsing the web and sending emails. You just can't beat it.
2. Gaim - I wanted something that would let me sign on to multiple services at once, cost nothing, and give me the opportunity to bug its devs on IRC (sorry devs). Recently the Windows port of gaim has become stable and efficient enough for extended use. Just make sure you don't use the Wimp theme, it leaks memory.
3. OpenOffice - The 1.1 release is simply great. It lacks the polish and speed of MS Office, but it also costs a lot less. I've used Writer and Presenter extensively with no problems. However, some people (e.g. my brother) do have a problem with the few features it lacks, so OO.o isn't for everyone.
4. PuTTY - The venerable Telnet and SSH client. Need I say more?
5. Apache - I rejoiced when I learned that I could run the same web server I trust on my FreeBSD server on my very own laptop. Now I can get my files from the web on a powerful web server that doesn't open tons of security holes.
6. TightVNC - Although it's slower than commercial alternatives, I still like VNC for its cross-platform nature and inline java client. The TightVNC distribution adds JPEG compression (and client based pointer drawing, I think) but maintains compatibility, which can't hurt.
7. Automachron - Maybe obsolete with XP's NTP capabilities, but I'm still running it. Keeps my time synced, and that keeps me happy.
8. Magical Jellybean Dictionary - Cheesy name, but it's a great little dict client.
9. GIMP - It's not as good as Photoshop, but for minor image work the GIMP will suffice. It runs just fine under Windows, except for a few random crashes.
10. LyX - Search for "lyx qt windows" on google and check out the newfangled QT port of it. Finally, LyX works great on Windows with no X server to speak of. Of course I can't forget to include the MikTeX distribution.

XNView by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:55 · Score: 0

for viewing all kind of graphics
www.xnview.org

An alternative to outlook by wo1verin3 · 2003-10-08 04:55 · Score: 1

Eudora from Qualcomm is a great alternative to outlook. I made my mom use it because I just don't trust outlook.

Why the requirement to run Windows XP? by CamShaft · 2003-10-08 04:56 · Score: 1

This isn't rabid Linux advocacy, I'm curious why you are planning to dual boot windows when you are building a

'typical family PC' without an emphasis on gaming

Is there a particular software application you need on windows? Is it because you think the rest of your family can't use Linux?

In my experience, the only apps that I keep windows around for are games. I can do everything else in Linux, and given a nice window manager and about 5 minutes of instruction I can get a computer neophyte doing all the things they would be doing in windows.

Re:Why the requirement to run Windows XP? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:54 · Score: 0

maybe he has an 802.11g card. last i heard, there is NO prospect of the any manufacturers ever providing linux drivers for them.

My Must-Have List by smackjer · 2003-10-08 04:56 · Score: 1

AVG antivirus (free)
ZoneAlarm (free for personal use)
Mozilla Firebird (free, tabbed browser, blocks popups, not IE, etc)
Mozilla Thunderbird (free email client)
OpenOffice (yep, it's free)
WinAmp (hmm, also free)
CDEx (free, open-source CD ripping and conversion)
IM client of choice (AIM,Yahoo,etc) or a try-to-do-it-all like Trillian

--

This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

redundant post by looie · 2003-10-08 04:56 · Score: 1

i'll chime in for avg anti-virus (www.grisoft.com) but f-prot (www.f-prot.com) also makes a free version which i haven't tried but have seen praised. i do recommend avoiding mcafee & norton because they are bloated.

zone alarm free firewall, if you need one. i used it on my xp machine & it worked fine.

mozilla for windows is very nicely done. includes a mail client & a news client if you need them.

if you do a lot of digital photography, adobe makes photo album, which my wife says is satisfactory in the free version, though the cheap version has more features.

MS makes the baseline security analyzer and the iis lockdown tools available free for security purposes. i recommend you use at least the first one.

good luck.

mp

--
"The secret to strong security: less reliance on secrets." -- Whitfield Diffie

Re:redundant post by acaird · 2003-10-08 05:32 · Score: 1

...f-prot (www.f-prot.com) also makes a free version which i haven't tried but have seen praised

Interestingly, f-prot also makes a Linux version. Good for watching Samba shares, perhaps. I just downloaded it, though, so I'm not sure what its capabilities are.

--
Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely. E. Tufte
Re:redundant post by looie · 2003-10-08 09:01 · Score: 1

Interestingly, f-prot also makes a Linux version. Good for watching Samba shares, perhaps. I just downloaded it, though, so I'm not sure what its capabilities are.
i'll have to look into that. for me, the main thing is getting the word out that there are more good players in the av market that the big two you-know-who.
and if you want to purchase from, e.g., avg, the price is 1/2 of what you pay for That Other Software. (avg sells product subscriptions, $33 for two years, which is so reasonable, why would you even buy that other bloatware?)
mp

--
"The secret to strong security: less reliance on secrets." -- Whitfield Diffie

Top 10 for Linux by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:56 · Score: 0

1. Galeon with Flash, Java, and mplayerplug-in
2. Kmail
3. Xmms
4. Mplayer
5. Gimp
6. Grip
7. OpenOffice.org
8. Eroaster
9. Synaptic
10. Audacity

Total Commander by Karamchand · 2003-10-08 04:56 · Score: 2, Informative

A perfect file manager. No mouse needed, fully customizable, packer and filesystem plugins.
For the Linux side use for example midnight commander.

Re:Total Commander by Murdoc · 2003-10-08 05:47 · Score: 3, Informative

I have to agree with this one here, I've been using TC since it was still called Windows Commander (after Norton Commander) but M$ sent them a "nasty" letter about using the word "windows". Rather than fight them at all they just changed the name because they felt that it was limiting them anyway, so now they can go cross-platform. I love it when someone can turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Best ability you can have in life!
One feature you didn't mention was the wicked FTP client. Since the program is two-pane, the ftp client works virtually identical to your local files. Not to mention the file sorting tools, the multi-rename tools, MIME en/decoders, etc. And the built-in packer treats zip and arj files like directories. Thus, I don't need Win Explorer, WinZip, or an FTP client. All combined in one easy package!
And btw you can get it here.

--
Our ignorance is not so vast as our failure to use what we know. - M. King Hubbert
Re:Total Commander by Espectr0 · 2003-10-08 11:32 · Score: 1

There is no better file manager than XTreeGold, still alive by the ZTreeWin project. Take my word from it, i have been using it since i was 8

--
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
Re:Total Commander by stakman · 2003-10-08 11:56 · Score: 1

I second this.. I've been using Total Commander for over 5 years, and now I pretty much can't live without it. It's the first thing I install onto any machine I use.. given that it fits in 2mb, this program is some serious sweetness.. :)

My top 10 by webscathe · 2003-10-08 04:57 · Score: 2, Informative

My suggestions for the Windows side...

For email I'd definitely recommend Eudora as it can be used free (ad based, but small add window) and isn't suceptible to propagating the many viruses that target Outlook.

As someone previously mentioned, I'd also recommend Opera, again, ad based, but a solid browser and mouse gestures rule!

Someone else also mentioned AVG for antivirus, probably the best option for free antivirus.

CDEX is a great MP3 ripping program that I've always used.

We can't forget Sonique and WinAmp for playing your MP3's. I prefer Sonique but that's just me.

Then of course there's Winzip, Adobe Acrobat, QuickTime, VNC, and ZoneAlarm or BlackIce (all available at download.com). These are all (except perhaps VNC) must have utilities for a Windows box.

CD Burning by gray_eminence · 2003-10-08 04:57 · Score: 1

What would people suggest for CD burning? Need to burn files and convert/burn mp3's to CD Audio

Re:CD Burning by mangancha · 2003-10-08 14:16 · Score: 1

K3b!
Re:CD Burning by exhilaration · 2003-10-08 15:27 · Score: 1

(for Windows) CDBurnerXP Pro: http://w1.878.telia.com/~u87812405/
It's free, pretty, and it works.
Re:CD Burning by gray_eminence · 2003-10-16 11:52 · Score: 1

Not bad. Could use some improvement in the UI, but I'm gonna go with it for a while.

Thanks!

top 10 for BOTH platforms, all free by kayen_telva · 2003-10-08 04:57 · Score: 0

firebird
thunderbird
openoffice
gaim
acroreader
winamp/gqmpeg
xnview/gqview
kerio firewall/iptables
av personal/??
gimp

linux by joeldg · 2003-10-08 04:57 · Score: 1

nuff said

--
anime+manga together at last.. in real time.

quick and dirty linux list by dotKAMbot · 2003-10-08 04:57 · Score: 1

-mozilla (mozplugger)
-evolution (best guid email client ever)
-xmms
-mplayer (mozilla plugin)
-blackbox or xfce4 for window managment
-gaim
-openoffice 1.1
-xcdroast (cd burning)
-gv (pdf and postscript)
-zip/unzip/rar/unrar/unace/par for non standard archiving
-xterm

My Top List by obsidianpreacher · 2003-10-08 04:57 · Score: 1

Although others have said Mozilla as a web browser, I feel that it's too bloated and slow. Try K-Meleon or Opera instead.
CDEx is a great open-source program for ripping your legally-owned CD-audio tracks. Rip them to OGG and feel your 1337ness potential expand.
Try using ZINF instead of WinAmp (bloatware ... I haven't cared for WinAmp since early 2.x) for your sound-playing abilities. The skinning abilites are also a lot better on ZINF, plus it supports more formats than WinAmp does.
If you're not looking at getting the entire OpenOffice.org suite, you can get just AbiWord, which is a great word-processing program. OpenOffice.org, however, is really full-featured and I would say almost a must.
People have already mentioned the free anti-virus software from AVG, but it doesn't hurt to have backups, such as the free online scan from Trend Micro.
As someone else also mentioned, ZoneAlarm is also a great thing to have.
Trillian and/or GAIM are great instant-messaging.

Taking a look through SourceForge and Pricelessware are great places to go and explore on your own as well.

--
topreacher@signature.slashdot.org 1% rm -rf sig

top 10 titles? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 04:58 · Score: 0

we use suse/gnu/linux. that's all the titles we need to run our home/office PCs, & all of our networks.

you can replace the suse, with any # of functional liesense free distributions, for a song.

won set of disks. no fauxking liesenses, no self-upgrading virot, etc....

it doesn't run on the payper liesense hostage taking softwar gangster BugWear(tm), but we consider that to be an advantage/the natural progression of the gnu millennium.

Same apps for both by autechre · 2003-10-08 04:58 · Score: 1

If you pick applications like Mozilla, OpenOffice, and GAIM, you will be able to use the same applications under Windows as you do under Linux. This will blur the distinction between the two, and make it easier for your other family members to use Linux (if they/you want this). Products like Adobe Acrobat are available for both as well. You can get Xchat for both if you want your kids to rot away their lives in front of IRC. :)

For Linux, you definitely need something like MPlayer, and there's now a plugin to integrate support for it into Mozilla so that content can be viewed inline (sorry, no time to research the link).

As for other apps, I guess that depends on what _your_family_ likes to do. My mom is a PA, so she has all these medical applications, but they might not apply to anyone in your family. Your question is a bit too open-ended for me to be any more helpful than the above.

--
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.

Knoppix by jonfelder · 2003-10-08 04:58 · Score: 2, Informative

Every home machine needs a copy of knoppix sitting next to it. This way when an update causes their machine to blue screen on start up, they will have everything they need for to allow for their techy friend to do a data recovery.

10 basics I have on all my Win boxen by jbeamon · 2003-10-08 04:59 · Score: 1

1. MS Outlook
2. W32/Sobig.F
3. W32/Klez-B
4. Gator
5. W32.IRCBot.B
6. BackOrifice
7. .Net Framework
8. W32/BugBear
9. Happy99.exe
10. W32/Dumaru

What else do you guys have installed?

--
-j

This should definitely be on your list.. by WIAKywbfatw · 2003-10-08 05:00 · Score: 1

Belarc Advisor. Get it from http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html.

It tells you everything you need to know on your Windows systems, hardware and software, even including registration numbers.

--

"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg

Top Ten Downloads....FREE!! by kaellinn18 · 2003-10-08 05:01 · Score: 1

1. W32/Elkern.cav.c 2. W32/Valla.b 3. W32/Bugbear@MM 4. W32/Pate.b 5. W32/Nimda.eml 6. W32/FunLove.gen 7. W32/Nachi.worm 8. W32/Lovgate.g@M 9. W32/Lovgate.f@M 10. W32/Bugbear.b@MM And if you're lucky, your computer will download some of these all by itself!!!

--

--------
This isn't the sig you're looking for. Move along.

A site to look through by Paul+Neubauer · 2003-10-08 05:01 · Score: 1

For the Windows side of things have a look through the listings at http://www.tinyapps.org and see if anything you might want is listed. The site prefers free stuff, but will list shareware. They're all smaller programs which can mean fewer places for bugs to hide and less resource usage.

--
I don't subscribe to RMS's GNUtopian vision.

Some ideas by mkoby · 2003-10-08 05:01 · Score: 1

For the Linux side anyway, my apologies if you already know about some of these, just throwing them out there. Also some of these have windows versions (Mozilla, Open Office, GAIM, Thunderbird, Firebird, etc).

Email - Evolution, Mozilla Mail, or Thunderbird

If you want something that looks like Outlook (and even acts like it in most places) use Evolution. Mozilla Mail is included in Mozilla and Thunderbird is like Firebird, but for mail.

WWW - Mozilla or Firebird

These 2 you can't really go wrong with. Also for good measure make sure lynx is installed for console web browsing

IM - GAIM
THere's also Everybuddy, but I perfer GAIM

Office - Open Office or KOffice
Open Office is slightly more well rounded but KOffice is pretty slick IMHO.

Media - XMMS, mPlayer, Winamp
Everyone knows Winamp for MP3s on Windows. XMMS is a Winamp like program for Linux. mPlayer is for movies (and also audio) that plays MOST formats.

Use the following links to research
Mozilla, Firebird, and Thunderbird
GAIM
XMMS
mPlayer
Open Office
Evolution and other Ximian products

Hope this was helpful.

mynuts won: total avoidance of softwar gangster, by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:03 · Score: 0

corepirate nazi stock markup felon infactdead kode blew.

Some stuff by GrouchoMarx · 2003-10-08 05:03 · Score: 1

If you're running a Windows box, then the following is mandatory. I even have it all burned to a CD to give to friends. Some free/speech, some free/beer, some shareware.

ZoneAlarm - You MUST have a software firewall for Windows.
Mozilla - I think you know this one by now
OpenOffice.org - Ibid
PuTTY - Not the best interface, but Free ssh/scp client
WinZip - I think XP has its own unzipper, but I suggest WinZip anyway for people. Mostly because I don't deal with people who use XP. I refuse to do computer support for friends who use XP. (I'm making an exception by even talking to you. )

On the Mandrake side, I like using Konqueror. Honestly, the KDE suite, OpenOffice.org, and xmms should give you everything you need for everything. :-)

--

--GrouchoMarx
Card-carrying member of the EFF, FSF, and ACLU. Are you?

This must be said by c0rruptc0d3 · 2003-10-08 05:03 · Score: 0, Redundant

Does this really need to be front page news? I'm sure this has been said already and I apologize for being redundant but come on here. "I'm building a home pc which will have windows and (insert linux build here to sound credible) what apps should I have in it for my family free is good." This probably could have been answered by searching google or any other resource. Must be a real slow day for news.

for normal users... by crhylove · 2003-10-08 05:03 · Score: 1

ie, mom, the kids, grandma, etc.

i'd go with win xp, for these reasons:

mozilla firebird www.mozilla.org
winamp classic www.winamp.com
zsnes www.sourceforge.net
mozilla thunderbird www.mozilla.org
Gaim (the new windows build is GREAT!) www.sourceforge.net
abiword www.abisource.org
gimp for windows www.gimp.org
bsplay www.bsplay.org
7 zip www.sourceforge.net

These are the top 10 ESSENTIAL programs i install on an end users machine. i also turn off the crappy xp eye candy, and crappy xp default screen saver and background.

this is the best list for people who are not full fledged computer geeks.

also, include a rom of sumer mario all stars and world. :D

rhY

--
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.

Re:for normal users... by crhylove · 2003-10-08 05:05 · Score: 1

i realized that was only 9.

the 10th one i'd install is... (drum roll please)

k++ which i don't know where to find anymore. first it was off of google, then the webpage was shut down. anyone know where the homepage is now?

thanks!!

rhY

--
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.

Top 10 for windows by aunt_jamima_sr · 2003-10-08 05:04 · Score: 1

These are the things I find myself downloading every time I re-OS a windows machine:

Winamp
Irfanview - great lightweight image/avi viewer
Winzip
OpenOffice, if you don't have MS Office (MS haters can eat me. This is a windows box - use the best tools for the platform.)
1,000,000 windows service packs and updates
Kazaa/Kazaa Lite if you can find it
AdAware, to counteract the Kazaa nasties
DivX codec
Trillian
A real JRE so applets and swing apps work nicely (JRE 1.4 from sun)

Top 10 by Yartrebo · 2003-10-08 05:05 · Score: 1

Well, since it already has Linux and Windows, we won't count those.

1 - Gnu Compiler Collection (GCC) - Essential for compiling all those programs you download for Linux.
2 - XWindows - Webbrowsing with Lynx isn't much fun, and doing graphical work is very hard in text mode.
3 - KDE or Gnome - Same reason as XWindows.
4 - Konqueror - Great webbrowser. Lets you stop pop-up ads and lets you control cookies and javascript on a per-domain level. Also doubles as a file browser.
5 - Wine - Lets you run Windows apps from Linux.
6 - fdisk - Good for deleting that pesky Windows partition. With Wine, why do you need to waste a few GB on that Windows partition that will just gather dust.
7 - DCGUI - Helps in getting zero-cost programs for Wine to run, as well as zero-cost movies and mp3s.
8 - Kaboodle - Plays most movie files that you download with DCGUI.
9 - XMMS - Good mp3 player.
10 - apache - Nice webserver program. Every person needs their personal webpage, and apache is the most elegant way of putting up those photographs of your pet for the world to see.

Note: Outside of DCGUI and Wine, all of the above are included with Mandrake, so you only have to download the other two (which are free).

My picks. by supabeast! · 2003-10-08 05:06 · Score: 1

1 - OpenOffice: A perennial favorite of mine, especially since I can use it to create PDF documents.
2 - Microsoft Office XP - The most stable version of Office out there. I really only use it for resumes and college papers that must be sent in soft copy to people who demand MS Office formats. because OpenOffice inevitable mangles something in a way that only an MS Office user will see.
2 - Mozilla - For browsing and email, it doesn't get much better.
3 - OpenSSH - Must have on all *nix boxes.
4 - Putty - I used it for SSH access when I'm on Windows.
5 - CDex - Free CD ripping software that works better than most commercial stuff.
6 - GIMP - Maybe it can't do everything that Photoshop does, but GIMP is free, and still one of the best image manipulation tools around.
7 - Acrobat Reader - You will need to read PDFs at some point, so just install it ahead of time.
8 - Quake III - Duh.
9 - Trillian - IRC and AIM. Must have.
10 - GAIM - Linux IM! Must have.

Mom's Answers... by essiescreet · 2003-10-08 05:06 · Score: 1

I asked mom, who is a good, random sample of your average dumbass user. 1. Microsoft 2. Internet 3. The big blue E 4. Email That's really all I use!

Linux home system top 10? by Simon+Lyngshede · 2003-10-08 05:06 · Score: 1

I don't know anything about Windows and I like it that way.

Linux however:
zsh (You always need a good shell)
mutt - mail
Mozilla Firebird - browser
Emacs - Well you'll need an editor
Mplayer - For watching porn
Gaim - ICQ / AIM / Jabber / what ever
XMMS - Music
tnftp - Personally I need a good ftp klient
OpenSSH - I have remote stuff to do
Xclock - Need to know the time

Guess that's about it, not including all the more technical stuff and things like window managers. Also I assume that Xterm ins't a choice.

Do you want to buy software or feed your children? by yerricde · 2003-10-08 05:09 · Score: 1

Microsoft Office

Even a one-seat license is too expensive for the typical family. I'd suggest OpenOffice.org 1.1 instead.

Norton Anti-Virus

What about AVG's product, which is much cheaper for home use?

TurboTax

"If your printer jams, tough s***. You've chosen the Print command once, and you have to pay $20 more for the right to choose the Print command again. Oh, and we're not responsible if your computer doesn't boot after installing our DRM software over your partition table." Unlike Intuit's TurboTax, H&R Block's TaxCut doesn't have digital restrictions management that annoys the user.

Nero

Doesn't Ahead's Nero Burning ROM software come with the CD recorder that was ordered with the computer?

Backyard Baseball

Sports simulations that license their characters from major sports leagues will be obsolete after a year. Subscription software becomes very expensive very quickly, especially in a home with several mouths to feed.

Grand Theft Auto

Games in Rockstar's GTA series are rated M (equivalent of MPAA's R) and are not suitable for a household containing children under 17.

--
Will I retire or break 10K?

Irfanview is a must (and other picks) by gosand · 2003-10-08 05:09 · Score: 2, Informative

Some of my must-haves....

Irfanview - hands down the best image viewer out there for Windows. Free. Windows only (but will run under Wine if you want)

Gimp - if you want to edit images. Free. Linux and Windows.

MAME - for games, period. Free. You can buy some ROMs, or *ahem* ask around. Windows and Linux. (Xmame)

CDex - for CD ripping in Windows. Free. Windows only, but several good ripping programs are available for Linux. (search freshmeat)

GNUWin - a collection of free apps for Windows. Worth the download.

Audacity - if you want to create/edit sound files. Free. Linux and Windows.

Winamp - for listening to audio files. Free. Windows only. I like XMMS for Linux over Freeamp.

Opera - web browsing, email. Free. Windows and Linux. I prefer it over Mozilla, but not by much.

--

My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

What is lost not gained by willeg · 2003-10-08 05:09 · Score: 1

I dont quite understand what you "gain" by running a Microsoft OS, I just understand what you loose.... http://www.eadon.com/comment/linuxwhyditchedwindow s.php

Microsoft Money by YE · 2003-10-08 05:11 · Score: 1

I would consider Microsoft Money (or an equivalent; can somebody recommend one?) essential for a home PC.

Re:Microsoft Money by Che+Geuvarra · 2003-10-08 05:13 · Score: 1

Quicken, works really well. it allows for bill payment online and interfaces really wellwith MS office Suite.. Oh and go to Office 2003

--
-For it is the very essence of imperialism to turn information systems into wild, bloodthirsty animals-
Re:Microsoft Money by YE · 2003-10-08 05:22 · Score: 1

I was hoping for a free-beer alternative :-)

GnuWinII and TheOpenCD by hey · 2003-10-08 05:11 · Score: 1

Check out GnuWinII and The Open CD.

PIM ? by JediSB · 2003-10-08 05:12 · Score: 1

If you're looking for a PIM for Windows I'd suggest Kaboom Organizer. It is a "home oriented" PIM with features like a diary/journal, anniversary database, a gift database, a shopping database (for those grocery lists, etc.) along with all the other typical features you'd find in other PIMS.

Here's my list for Windows by slasher999 · 2003-10-08 05:12 · Score: 1

Some are free, some aren't. Such is life. I've left out utilities like AV software on purpose and stuck with "real apps". I also focused more on Windows since who cares about Linux "must haves" when just about everything is free anyway?

OpenOffice
Firebird/Thunderbird
Boxer (text editor)
CuteFTP Pro
PuTTY/psftp/puttygen/etc
WinZip
VNC (arguably a utility)
PaintShop Pro (sorry, never tried WinGimp)
Gaim (I gave up on Trillian, but it's decent as well)
Acrobat Reader

My Top 10 apps by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:13 · Score: 0

1. FreeBSD - operating system
2. KDE - window manager
3. Opera - www browser
4. xmms - mp3 player
5. mplayer - mpeg player
6. Open office - office app
7. VMWare - run windows/linux apps
8. gnomemeeting - VoIP/video app
9. Gimp - graphics app
10. gaim - IM app

Virtual Dub by Dugsmyname · 2003-10-08 05:13 · Score: 1

No computer is complete without the best free open source video editing program... Virtual Dub is simply, awesome!

You need only a web browser by pmz · 2003-10-08 05:14 · Score: 1

e-mail, Slashdot, and porn (not necessarily in that order) are all computers are really used for, anyway.

--
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin

The Open CD by obsidianpreacher · 2003-10-08 05:14 · Score: 1

It was previously mentioned on /. ... and is somewhat old, but TheOpenCD is a great place for open-source Windows software.

--
topreacher@signature.slashdot.org 1% rm -rf sig

A good File Manager? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:14 · Score: 0

Does anyone know the best free file manager? I've about decided to scrap winders and force my last few Windows apps to run on Mandrake because XP Home frequently takes 10 seconds or so to display the contents of a folder. And IE and Explorer crash alot. (Not to mention that it gives bogs "over-write" messages when copying a large directory tree over the network, the File Search is hard to use and other such things. You'd think they'd do a usability test before shipping. As for me, I prefer my 500MHz Win2K PC to my 1.8GHz XP Home Edition notebook.) It seems XP Home is lower qualiity than any MSFT or other OS I've seen in a long time.

Is there some way to filter Ask Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:14 · Score: 0

...has anyone come up with a way to prevent the appearance of Ask Slashdot articles? It's so discouraging to see mediocre, banal questions on this board.

Every time a lame "Ask Slashdot" appears, it diminishes my respect for the entire thing.

Re:Is there some way to filter Ask Slashdot? by telstar · 2003-10-08 05:18 · Score: 1
"Is there some way to filter Ask Slashdot?"
- Why don't you submit your question as an "Ask Slashdot" submission.
Re:Is there some way to filter Ask Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:24 · Score: 0

Perhaps you should click the frickin' "preferences" link before complaining about people asking mediocre, banal questions...

Windows Sucks??? by lordDallan · 2003-10-08 05:14 · Score: 1

Reading everyone's suggestions on software it makes me wonder...

WHY IN THE HELL WOULD ANYONE BUY WINDOWS??? Except for games, where Windows is king (of course you could by a $99 Game Cube), what is the appeal of Windows? No seriously, especially for the home user, what benefit does Windows (any version) offer? It seems like everybody's favorite choices either are open source, or have as good or better OSS equivalents.

Even for business use, the only two things that seem to force people towards Windows are lame platform issues (like vpn clients, corporate anti-virus, active-x heavy websites, etc.) and even lamer vertical market custom software BS. Am I wrong? Am I missing something?

Re:Windows Sucks??? by bugnuts · 2003-10-08 05:35 · Score: 1

Assuming you're talking about only x86 PC's:

1. professional graphics editing (photoshop/illustrator)
2. hardware compatibility for bizarre or legacy devices
3. microsoft word

There are three examples for which ALL non-windows solutions are not as good. I've used openoffice and staroffice and both are worse than Word on windows although they usually get the job done. Most people can get away with using the Gimp, yet every professional editor uses Adobe software.

Lastly, any claims that you can run software Foo using Wine is baseless, because emulators original. Any claims about security or Gates eating small children are beside the point. Above are three simple reasons why someone would buy windows.
Re:Windows Sucks??? by AugstWest · 2003-10-08 06:44 · Score: 1

1. professional graphics editing (photoshop/illustrator)

Both run perfectly in Wine.

2. hardware compatibility for bizarre or legacy devices

True that. I'm still trying to get my USB phoneline network device to run in Linux, but it looks like it'll never work.

3. microsoft word

All of Office runs perfectly well under Wine.

That said, I'd still keep a Windows machine around simply for gaming if I wasn't playing Enemy Territory, Battle for Wesnoth and Vega Strike.
Re:Windows Sucks??? by ThePretender · 2003-10-08 08:51 · Score: 1

Shouldn't you have also suggested that they grab the latest version of the "Anti-Microsoft Slashdot Typical Predictable Message Generator" that you used to create your message?
Re:Windows Sucks??? by luzrek · 2003-10-08 09:06 · Score: 1

Another issue with buying commercial windows software is the cost. For MS Office + Adobe's graphics suite you are looking at more than $1000. That is easily more than the cost of a desktop computer.
For an "occasional" user of most of this software is price prohibative, and while they may not be to everyone's liking, the free alternatives are adequate. With specific reference to the originatal branch of this discussion, there were price limitations.
Besides, for professional (or just long) documents you should really use either Latex/Tex (open source) or Adobe's Pagemaker. Both offer much more control and reproduce documents much more reliably between machines.

--
Galium Arsenide is the material of the future, and always will be.

DOS/Windows software by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:16 · Score: 0

If you have a floppy drive, you just need an internet connection, any webbrowser or ftp client, rawrite2, and some floppies. If you don't have a floppy drive, you may also need fips, fdisk, and loadlin. A cd burner on another machine can be substituted for the net connection if need be.

At least these are *my* favorite DOS/Windows programs ;)

Ok, maybe a list for the non-technical family.... by Yuan-Lung · 2003-10-08 05:16 · Score: 1

Many of the lists I have read so far resemble more a workstation for the tech savy then a family PC.... Maybe many of us here at /. do have technically advanced family, but unfortunately, I don't. So here's a list of what I put on the family PC.

mozilla
browsing and e-mail
Winzip
Winrar
Winace
for opening archive files they download
ACDSee32
graphic viewer
ICQ
Winamp
DivX and other codecs
music match for their ripping needs. Don't expect your regular family to use a commandline tool.
McAfee
ZoneAlarm Pro
definitely need these.
OpenOffice
MS Office
just so that they don't bug me everytime they get a file can't be opened in open office.

Don't forget virtualdub! by wackysootroom · 2003-10-08 05:16 · Score: 1

VirtualDub is in my opinion, one of the finest pieces of free digital video editing software for the win32 platform.

To my knowledge, nothing on linux even comes close to it.

FileZilla is a nice little open source FTP client. Beats the crap outta WSFTP.

Windows suggestions by W2k · 2003-10-08 05:17 · Score: 2, Informative

Mozilla, powerful and free web browser/mail suite.
OpenOffice, powerful office suite.
Ad-Aware for keeping spyware (Gator etc) out.
BitTorrent for all your P2P needs.
ZomeAlarm a good firewall.
Avast! Antivirus good AV app, free for home use.
TextPad powerful and easy-to-use text editor.
SmartFTP powerful and free FTP client.

On top of these, I always install these non-free apps (non-development related):
Paint Shop Pro all the relevant functionality from Photoshop at a much better price.
Klient the best IRC client. Ever.

Some people have mentioned:
CygWin - a home, non-dev PC doesn't need it
VNC - a home, non-dev PC doesn't need it, and it has security issues
Dev-C++ - not needed on a home PC, it's for development.
NetHack - huh!?
Boingo - the article submitter didn't mention anything about having a WLAN card, so why would he need to find hotspots?
Winamp - redundant since Microsoft released WMP9, which I've found to be just as fast, more stable than WA3, and better at playing movies. Of course, YMMV, and some people prefer to stay away from MS stuff for ideological reasons.

--
Quality, performance, value; you get only two, and you don't always get to pick.

Re:Windows suggestions by ncr53c8xx · 2003-10-08 16:18 · Score: 1

Some people have mentioned: CygWin - a home, non-dev PC doesn't need it

Cygwin comes with hundreds of small utilities. No need to download their Windows equivalents one by one (and much safer too).

Boingo - the article submitter didn't mention anything about having a WLAN card, so why would he need to find hotspots?

Most new PCs do have one.

What details? by yerricde · 2003-10-08 05:18 · Score: 1

Ad hominem. Just because the page was written by a person who prefers Opera does not mean that its conclusions are necessarily correct nor necessarily incorrect. What specific details does the pro-Opera page to which I linked get wrong?

--
Will I retire or break 10K?

Actual family oriented stuff by NeoSkandranon · 2003-10-08 05:18 · Score: 1

Some /.'ers have familiy that all know C++ apparently...anyway

Winamp
Ad-Aware
Sygate Personal Firewall(Zone alarm sucks)
cDex 1.51(CD ripping software)
Mozilla Firebird popup blocker is nice, esp for clueless users and children

--
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)

My 10 by harryman100 · 2003-10-08 05:19 · Score: 1

1. Opera
2. Winamp
3. Trillian
4. Nero
5. Open Office Draw
6. MS Office Word and Excel (sorry but, until I get to uni, I don't have time to learn something different)
7. EyeBrowse
8. DOSbox (DOS emulator, for all those old games!!)
9. Worms Armageddon (for wasting time)
10. Norton Antivirus.

--
.sigs are for losers

Ok...For average computer usage... by Mythicman · 2003-10-08 05:19 · Score: 1

Really, it's hard to pinpoint withoug knowing what you're going to be using it for, however, for basic needs, I utilize the following (win32. I have a pair of RH boxes, but they are both servers without KDE/Gnome, so I don't use Linux desktops much):

Mozilla 1.4

(The whole suite) mail/browser with additional functionlity provided by a couple of plugins (EasySearch bar, Optimoz Mouse Gestures and the Calendar). Been playing with Firebird/Thunderbird, but thunderbird has a bit to go before it's up to the level ot the regular Mozilla mail client.

AntiVIR free Antivirus.
Updates every 2 weeks (or more if you're paranoid). Used AVG (Grisoft's product) for a while, but had issues with its W2k/XP compatibility. That was over a year ago, however.

EnZip Freeware Zip Utility

Explorer-like interface, with shell extensions and all. No nag screens!

FileZillaOpen-source FTP utility

Includes queuing and scheduling functions. Better than WsFTP lite.

Putty freeware SSH client

Nuf said!

iXplorer Freeware secure FTP client

Transfer files over SSH connections. Useful for transferring files to/from Linux hosts without opening up FTP.

WinAmp free Multimedia Player

With some plugins, can play almost any type of media file.

There's more, but I'm not going to list everything I use. Normally I'd just send you to my website, but I'm not going to /. my own site. It's just a little 486 box on a DSL connection!

Re:Ok...For average computer usage... by caffeinex36 · 2003-10-08 05:24 · Score: 1

http://www.mythicman.com/software.html

let's see how it holds up!
Re:Ok...For average computer usage... by Mythicman · 2003-10-08 05:30 · Score: 1

Ok, but just the titles...

AdAware
GAIM (GPL'd IM - Trillian hogs resources)
cDex (cd ripping)
Gimp (image Creation/editing)
Iview (simple image viewer)
OpenOffice (you already know this one)
Pegasus Mail (Used is a lot too, before I really started using Thunderbird. Awesome mail client!)

What I run when I have to use Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:20 · Score: 0

Mozilla Firebird
Proxomitron filtering proxy
WinKey Killer (Other free apps on this somewhat dated site)
IrfanView
SysInternals monitoring apps

Other have already mentioned Cygwin, AVG, Anti-Vir and Ad-Aware. Still use an older version of Kerio Personal Firewall before it became shareware.

Because. by simetra · 2003-10-08 05:20 · Score: 2, Interesting

I've been using Opera for a long time, have even purchased it. I've recently tried Mozilla. In order to replicate the cool features of Opera, I've had to jump through a lot of hoops. It just isn't as slick, user-friendly, or consistant. Why download a bunch of crap extras when you can just get it all bundled together nicely in Opera? Mozilla is free only if you don't value hassle.

--

"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou

Total Commander by UfoZ · 2003-10-08 05:21 · Score: 0, Redundant

Total Commander
Personally, I can't tolerate the pathetic excuse for a file manager that is Windows Explorer.

And while we're at it, Cygwin is a handy thing to have.

As for the rest, everyone has their own preferences for image viewer, text editor, universal IM client, IRC client, etc etc etc.

Firebird and MS OWA by gavinjolly · 2003-10-08 05:21 · Score: 1

My work has provided external access to our email with OWA (Outlook Web Access).

I have one problem with meetings displaying on the wrong day in the calendar view using IE6. BUT . . . Firebird shows it correctly. Not suprising really.

--

The weathers here - Wish you were beautiful

Mozilla/Firebird/Thunderbird & OpenOffice by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:21 · Score: 0

If you use OpenOffice and either Mozilla or Firebird/Thunderbird, then you can have the same software on both Windows and Linux for all your basics (Office Suite, Web, E-mail). For me, it deminishes the disorientation that you get when switching back and forth between OS's.

With the same idea, you can use Winamp for Windows and XMMS for Linux(which are pretty similar).

Dual Boot Thoughts by stuffduff · 2003-10-08 05:22 · Score: 1

BootIT NG is great for partitioning NTFS hard disks. And a separate partition readable from both OS's is handy for 'shared files.'

--
"Can there be a Klein bottle that is an efficient and effective beer pitcher?"

My top ten picks by guacamolefoo · 2003-10-08 05:22 · Score: 4, Informative

Sorry for the repeats of others' picks, but you wanted my advice, and here it is:

AVG Antivirus - free for home users with free updates
OpenOffice.org 1.1 (office suite)
Irfan (for image viewing)
Mozilla - tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking and email filtering
Pegasus Mail (an alternative email client if you hate Mozilla's)
Winamp for audio playing (I prefer the 2.x versions)
CDex (for making MP3 files from CD)
MAME (for playing old arcade games)
Nero (for burning CDs)
Qcast media player (lets my PS2 read video, photo, and MP3 files from my computer so that it can display same on my TV rig)

Other tools that I use extensively, but which are not necessarily "home user" applications are:

Putty (for ssh connections to servers)
WS-FTP (ftp - free for non-commercial use)
VNC (lets me take control of other machines remotely using the GUI, also lets me control my home machine remotely the same way)

As far as entertainment titles go, it really depends on your preferences, but mine are:

Baldur's Gate I/II
Neverwinter Nights (tons of free modules extend the playability tremendously)
Civil War Generals II (very, very cheap and it's a neat (American) Civil War game, also lets you create scenarios to play. The stuff they give you is really easy to beat, though. I'd like to see a third edition of this title.)

--
Lots of petrified grits

Re:My top ten picks by Dell+Brandstone · 2003-10-08 06:51 · Score: 1

Try remote administrator (rAdmin)

http://www.radmin.com/

Extremely high security, very decent feature set.

--
[ a directive occured while processing this error ]
Re:My top ten picks by gbulmash · 2003-10-08 06:52 · Score: 1

I have to second Pegasus Mail. It can be used for everyday mail, but its filtering rules sets are powerful enough to use it as an ersatz mailing list server (I administered a 5,000 member list with automated subscribe and unsubscribe functions just through the filtering rules).
I have tried Outlook, Eudora, Netscape, but I keep coming back to Pegasus. Nothing, IMO, beats it for pure, unadulterated flexibility and power.
Plus it's free.

--
Start a happiness pandemic
Re:My top ten picks by skillet-thief · 2003-10-08 07:25 · Score: 1

Just one comment. I would add EAC (Exact Audio Copy) for ripping CDs. It can even read some so-called protected CDs. It just takes a lot longer.

--
Congratulations! Now we are the Evil Empire
Re:My top ten picks by guacamolefoo · 2003-10-09 12:29 · Score: 1

Another utility I use is Freezip (not Freezip!). See here:

http://freezip.cjb.net/

Nifty for Windows.

GF.

--
Lots of petrified grits

GNUWin by JasonGi · 2003-10-08 05:23 · Score: 1

GNU Win is a good place to start.
http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/apps/en/bestlist.htm l

Here's my 10 by telstar · 2003-10-08 05:24 · Score: 1

1. Adobe Photoshop - Expensive, but worth it
2. WinAMP 2.91
3. WS_FTP LE
4. Microsoft Office
5. SecureCRT
6. UltraEdit
7. Google Toolbar 2.0
8. WinRAR
9. ACDSee
10. Yahoo! Messenger

Make do with just 8 by perttu · 2003-10-08 05:24 · Score: 1

Kerio personal firewall
SpyBotSD
UltraEdit32
VLC Media Player
Opera 7.20
MyIE2
MLDonkey
SSH

If I had to add 2 more:
Proxomitron
Netlimiter

Time to come out from under my bridge again... by Trolling4Dollars · 2003-10-08 05:24 · Score: 1

...but is there such a good thing as a good free virus checker?

Look at Clam AV for a great, free Linux based antivirus program. With the use of the 'freshclam' command and cron in Linux, you can have the system update it's virus database daily (or as many times a day as you want). The 'clamscan' command is good for an overall system scan (including the Windows partition). Again, this can be set with cron to happen at a time when no one will be using the laptop (assuming it's left on).

A good free email client?

I live by Evolution myself on the Linux side, but Mozilla's mail client and Thunderbird aren't bad at all.

A handy web browser?

Ditto here about Mozilla for both with Windows and Linux platforms. Lots of very nice features and easy to use.

As far as other software, I would HIGHLY recommend OpenSSH even though it might seem like something that the average user might not use. Mostly because having VPN-like capabilities at no cost is VERY attractive. If you are, at all, technically capable, it's not too hard to get ssh configured for non-CLI tunneling. I use it all the time to work on my Linksys web admin from the outside world without opening port 80 to the outside. :) Someone REALLY needs to write some GUI apps to configure sshd_config and ~/.ssh/config for the average Joe. Consider Cygwin for Windows as that will give you a free ssh server and client.

--
Un-news

overflow protection on windows by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:24 · Score: 0

if they even had this kind of soft, how many bandwith we could have saved with blaster... je

Stackdefender - http://www.ngsec.com/ngproducts/stackdefender/

I'm a bit late to the party, but... by IANAAC · 2003-10-08 05:24 · Score: 1

You say that gaming isn't important for your system. Why even set up a dual boot machine then (assuming you are only using this for home use and don't need to interact with Windows at the office)? Everything you are looking for is available freely (and in quantity - some less quality than others :-)) for Linux. Virus checking is not needed on Linux. For browsing you have mozilla, firebird, opera. Mail - thunderbird or mozilla. Multimedia - xmms and mplayer/gmplayer or xine. Recent Linux distros also have pretty much every type of loadable module you would need for anything connected via USB (cameras, scanners), as well as the associated apps to go with them, such as gimp. Unless you have some specialty app that only runs under Windows, why bit just single boot to Linux? If it turns out you don't like it, you can always reload Windows.
BTW, if you do want to run some windows apps under linux I highly recommend CrossOver Office (not free, but inexpensive - under $60 USD). It flawlessly runs common win apps.

spam filter by dtfinch · 2003-10-08 05:25 · Score: 1

You're going to want one of those. If you want cross platform, open source, popfile works ok. There are many others. A good, free as in beer filter for windows is K9, which I use because of its accuracy, speed, and low memory footprint.

Re:spam filter by JuggleGeek · 2003-10-08 17:26 · Score: 1

I've been a fan of MailWasher. I use Eudora to read my email, but have MailWasher pre-process before Eudora grabs the real mail.
Mailwashwer has several useful features, such as the ability to check against DNS blacklists, but the most important thing for me is the ability to easily whitelist. I let it show all of the spam and unknown mail, and hide the legitimate mail (ie, mail from whitelisted addresses.) When I log on, Mailwasher runs right away (thanks to NetLaunch, another tool I've been very pleased with.) It grabs all the mail and shows me what is mostly just the junk. On occassion I'll get mail from someone not whitelisted, so I do glance through the mailwashwer screen before having it delete the junk, so that I can whitelist them. I could have it auto-delete stuff from blacklisted sites, but I don't trust the blacklists that much, so I just use their info to sort. That means that most of the spam gets sorted to the bottom, with mail (spam or not) from non-blacklisted sites at the top. Obviously, I check the top section fairly close, and do nothing more than a quick glance on the rest. I've also set up a couple of filters so that certain subject line terms likely to be in mail I want would get through regardless of whether the sender is whitelisted.
Once Mailwasher kills off the 100+ spams I'll have overnight, Eudora grabs the rest. A few spams will still slip through for various reasons, but not many. It does mean getting rid of the spam before getting the legitimate mail, which I wish wasn't the case, but it still saves a lot of time compared to having Eudora download everything and filtering it all there.
Mailwasher is free for use, and asks for donations, but all the features worth regardless. They do have a "pro" version that will handle multiple email accounts, Hotmail web based accounts, etc, but I haven't tried it.
You can find it at http://www.mailwasher.net/

A few options from the windows side of things by linkdead · 2003-10-08 05:25 · Score: 0

These are just my preferences, and form a windows point of view. I haven't used linux for some time now, even though I should give it another go.

WEb browser: Mozilla

File compression: WinRAR, sure it's interface is odd, but it can do zip files as well.

Since you use XP, outlook express is a decent email client, so long as you disable any kind of preview pane or auto-preview function. Also it's ability as a usenet reader is somewhat adequate. There are better options, but I have yet to find a free or close to free one that is any better.

StarOffice was the last freely-availible office suite I have used (and that was years ago), but it was a reasonably acceptable replacement for office 97. If all you need is basic word processing in Windows, just use wordpad (wordpad is essentially a lite version of MSWord).

Well good luck on your software hunts,

Quintessential Player NOT Winamp by JonStewart · 2003-10-08 05:26 · Score: 1

I see a lot of people suggesting Winamp, but Winamp3 is bugged out the hoo-haa and Winamp 2.9 lacks the neat interface of 3. I suggest Quintessential Player also know as QCD. It's got the features of Winamp 3 with out the bugs. It's as light weight as Winamp 2.9 as well.

my software rescue CD has... by Khaki_Dockers · 2003-10-08 05:26 · Score: 1

ok, this'll be a bit more than ten. mostly I'm a windows homeboy... I hated it when win 95 came out, I suddenly had to leave my precious DOS, but now I've been at home with windows for years, but I've only been tooling with linux for a little, so my windows list is good, my linux list is bad... but it's what I got. windows: mostly what I do, is browse, use IRC, play music, watch divX stuff, chat, and browse jpgs. so those are the areas in which I have app suggestions internet browsing: Mozilla. mail: I remember using pegasus mail, then I started using yahoo. Images: Acdsee (great trial-ware browser) Irfanview (freeware, more manipulation features, but not as fluid a browser) sound: winamp for when I'm multi tasking, musicmatch for when I'm only listening because it does something to make the mp3's sound good, and "QCD" to play .ogg in windows. it also has a nifty playlist thing when it's in it's runt mode. multimedia: I have 2 versions of windows media player, the latest, which is annoying, and colorful, and then the latest win 9x version even though I use win 2K. sometimes files work with one, not the other, so I've got wmp 6.4, and the latest. also (BSplayer) top marks go to low cpu usage and Bsplayer. I don't like real one player, I have RP8, and of course, quicktime. for linux media, I really like mplayer. for text manipulation, I like notepad, worpad, and VI. for image culling and stuff, I use wget. the mozilla I use on this computer, 1.0 r canidate 3, doesn't do ftp well, so I either use the command line, or IE... I also like trillian, though yahoo messanger has been crashing it recently. for CD burning, I use nero, solely, I like it alot for what limited sound manipulation I do, which to date has only been my ripping ELO's time album to ogg, but with their intro and twilight track being 2 tracks but one continuous song, I used nero's competant looking wave editor to slap the two together, I don't do much ripping or encoding, so I have no preferance there. hope this has helped.

PIM & Spam by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:27 · Score: 0

My .02 worth...
PIM - Palm Desktop (http://www.palmone.com/us/software/palm/). Ok they don't have a Linux version but it's free and if you get a Palm, well there you go.

Spam - SpamAssasin (http://saproxy.bloomba.com/moreinfo.php)

Mac OS X and iLife by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:28 · Score: 1, Informative

All you need is Mac OS X and iLife. Mac OS X gives you Safari, Mail, TextEdit, iCal, Address Book, and iSync, plus the built-in firewall, DVD player, and DVD/CD burner. iLife is iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, and iDVD.

For home use, you literally don't need anything more than these.

What's that? You don't have a Mac? Ohhhh, you poor thing.

Re:Mac OS X and iLife by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:35 · Score: 0

You also need:
* MS Office for Mac
* A mouse with 3 buttons and a scroll wheel
* A new car, as you had to sell yours to pay for the computer.

7zip's interface by llimllib · 2003-10-08 05:28 · Score: 1

is it just me, or does 7zip's interface blow? I use it on my windows partition, but if I didn't know what I was doing, I'd be totally unable to use it.

According to Steve.... by blugu64 · 2003-10-08 05:29 · Score: 1

1.iMovie
2.iTunes
3.iPhoto
4.iChat
5.iDVD
6.i Sync
7.iCal
8.iLife (ya I know that it's just iMovie and company)
9.Safari
10.Keynote

a little biased??? naaa....

--
"Personal ownership is a hallmark of conservative capitalism. And I don't believe I am entitled to anything that I did n

You are all *WRONG* by JavaLord · 2003-10-08 05:32 · Score: 4, Funny

Here are the programs you need to have a k-133t windows system.

1. AOL- DUH, they are the greatest ISP ever.

2. Webshots - Impress your friends with your changing wallpaper!

3. Hotbar - Skin Internet Explorer and Impress your friends!

4. AOHell This program will make you l33t!

5. Incredimail This makes your e-mail look k00lah then everyone elses.

6. Microsoft Outlook because all the anti-virus tools work with it. You don't want to use another e-mail client, you might get a virus!

7. Comet Cursor. Makes your cursor R0x0r.

8. Intruder Alert 99 You need a firewall, the internet isn't a safe place!

9. Gator Gator is an awesome program that helps u remember ur passwords. This way u don't have to fill out stupid forms!

10. BO Server The guys in my gaming clan sent me this, they said it would improve my FPS, and make windows run faster. I think it did!

Re:You are all *WRONG* by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:11 · Score: 0

Just today I inherited my boss's computer.

It had five of these things installed. *Shudder*

I spent half the workday trying to figure out how to remove Hotbar.
Re:You are all *WRONG* by ChaoticLimbs · 2003-10-08 11:40 · Score: 2, Funny

I have all of these but really couldn't get anyting done without Bonzi Buddy also. Xupiter is nice, too.

If you have any cash left... by eli173 · 2003-10-08 05:35 · Score: 1

...after buying that new system, you might want to keep track of it with GnuCash

Other apps by MadChicken · 2003-10-08 05:35 · Score: 1

I hate to break up the "Browser/email" only discussion here...

All you need to do is burn yourself a copy of GNUWin II and try out everything. Not absolutely everything is available in Linux, IIRC, but the vast majority.

Some of the stuff on there is getting old, though. It's time for an update.

That CD should be bundled with every computer. It's bread & butter stuff.

--
SYS 64738 NO CARRIER

Here's my standard list... by msimm · 2003-10-08 05:37 · Score: 2, Informative

Windows:

Kerio /or Sygate for firewall (both are good)
Aladdin's free StuffIt Expander (unpacks a lot of different compressed files, including SIT and Gunzip's)
AVG antivirus (free for personal home use)
QuickClear lite (deletes IE cookies/cache/empty's trash)
StartPro (well, it used to be free. Gives you a nice list of programs set to load at bootup, including registry keys.)
Ad-Aware everybodies favorite adware/malware answer.

Mandrake is (of course) easy:

Got the Easy Urpmi and follow the directions to install all the different media sites. Once you do that (its just a cut and paste job) you can fire up rpmdrake and search for software by name/description/type/etc. Mandrake installs with a lot of the right stuff already. I'd recommend maybe installing nano (easy command line text editor if you hate VI/VIM/EMACS/ETC) and of course if you running a system with a NVidia card get the NVIDIA drivers (rpmdrake, but if their not listed NVidia will have them).

--
Quack, quack.

Re:Here's my standard list... by ecarlson · 2003-10-08 12:56 · Score: 1

You can replace (or augment) both Ad-Aware and StartPro with SpyBotSD. It's both an excellent spyware remover, with additional anti-spyware features, and it has a built in startup item lister/selector (including the registry), and a bunch of other built-in tools.

--
- Eric, InvisibleRobot.com
Re:Here's my standard list... by msimm · 2003-10-08 14:24 · Score: 1

Thanks, saw that in an earlier post and installed it on my work pc. Looks great (and found some stuff AA had missed).

--
Quack, quack.

Windows Must Have Software by codepunk · 2003-10-08 05:37 · Score: 1

Zone Alarm
Symantec Anti Virus

The following security patches

MS99-041.
MS99-046.
MS99-056.
MS99-060.
MS00 -005.
MS00-006.
MS00-007.
MS00-021.
MS00-027.
MS00-029.
MS00-040.
MS00-047.
MS00-052.
MS00- 083.
MS00-087.
MS00-091.
MS00-094.
MS00-100.
MS01-003.
MS01-008.
MS01-009.
MS01-017.
MS01-0 40.
MS01-041.
MS01-052.
MS02-001.
MS02-018.

And a whole bunch of asprin, I think I exceeded 10

--

Got Code?

Do you even need dual boot? by Brandybuck · 2003-10-08 05:37 · Score: 1

I'm using FreeBSD. KDE gives me most of what I need. OpenOffice, MPlayer and GIMP give me everything else.

I am dual booting Windows, but it's only there for a couple of oddball programs that are definitely not "typical home PC needs". Frankly, I haven't booted into it for weeks. If you have Windows I would suggest AVG for antivirus. Everything else is available for Linux and BSD.

p.s. I tried installing Linux on a spare partition, but the various distros didn't support my SATA-only box in the installer. Keep that in mind if your new box doesn't have IDE or SCSI.

--
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!

The OpenCD project... by An+Onerous+Coward · 2003-10-08 05:38 · Score: 1

Your one stop GPL-for-Windows shop. It doesn't look like they've included the most recent versions of most programs, but it does give some great leads.

The OpenCD Project

--

You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!

You only need 1 thing for OS X by JavaLord · 2003-10-08 05:39 · Score: 1

either a windows emulator, or a disk formatting utility.

Re:You only need 1 thing for OS X by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 13:34 · Score: 0

Wow! Clever. I bet you stayed up all night thinking that one up didn't you?
And look! 2 mod points too.
</sarcasm >
Re:You only need 1 thing for OS X by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-09 01:27 · Score: 0

Geez. Why is it that you are so predudice on OSes?
Did Apple beat you with a stick and crash on your "What I did last summer?" 3rd grade paper?

Or do you actually wish Apple didn't exist...what a scary day that would be...The death of any sort of useful new idea from Microsoft for quite awhile...
Re:You only need 1 thing for OS X by JavaLord · 2003-10-09 01:48 · Score: 1

Geez. Why is it that you are so predudice on OSes? Did Apple beat you with a stick and crash on your "What I did last summer?" 3rd grade paper?

Actually, no. I was a big fan of the Apple II when I was younger. I have to work with Macs now, and I'd much rather be on any other platform
Re:You only need 1 thing for OS X by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-09 01:50 · Score: 0

You forgot your opening tag, I guess mac programmers aren't very good ;)

Gnucash by nuggz · 2003-10-08 05:39 · Score: 1

It's usable for tracking now.
Good records, nice summaries, simple graphs.

Other features I don't use yet.

10 Applications Every Windows PC Should Have by OMEGA+Power · 2003-10-08 05:39 · Score: 1

1. Anti-Virus Program (AVG if you don't want to pay, Norton or Mcafee if you do)

2. Firewall (I use Zonealarm)

3. Mozilla or Firebird and Thunderbird

4. Openoffice

5. Winamp

6. Ad-aware

7. Nero Burning ROM if you have a CD-R or CD-RW

8. Kazaa Lite K++

9. A PDF Viewer (such as Acrobat Reader)

10. A install disk for your favorite Linux Distro. Windows Sucks!

Qurb for stopping spam by Sowbug · 2003-10-08 05:40 · Score: 1

Since the original article mentions Windows XP, I suppose this is fair game. Qurb is a plugin for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. Spoof-proof whitelist, optional challenge-response.

It's also my company. :)

My personal top 10 by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 05:41 · Score: 0

These are the top ten most essential pieces of software on my computer (in no particular order of importance) - this list is probably different from yours since we most likely use our computers for different purposes, but hey, all I can give is my personal list :)
On the Windows XP side of things you are on your own since I don't use Windows at all and don't really know what is available.

My list :

- OpenOffice (for word processing etc)
http://www.openoffice.org/

- XMMS (for playing music)
http://www.xmms.org/

- nedit (for text editing (this is a GREAT programming editor))
http://www.nedit.org/

- gcc/g++ (good compilers are essential to me, and the GNU Compiler Collection fits my needs perfectly)
http://www.gnu.org/directory/gcc.html

- cdrecord (for recording CD-ROMs - if you're a GUI person you may want to check out the k3b frontend)
http://www.fokus.fhg.de/research/cc/glo ne/employee s/joerg.schilling/private/cdrecord.html
http://ww w.k3b.org/

- xchat (The best graphical IRC client out there)
http://www.xchat.org/

- konqueror (The integrated webbrowser / filemanager in KDE gives me the best browsing experience I've yet encountered and it renders almost any page perfectly)
http://www.konqueror.org/

- CUPS (for all your printing needs)
http://www.cups.org/

- ssh and screen (both a must have for remote systems management)
http://www.openssh.org/
http://www.g nu.org/software/screen/screen.html

- bzflag, cube and phobia III (a few games are essential, a man needs his fun)
http://www.bzflag.org/
http://wouter.fov120 .com/cube/
http://www.lynxlabs.com/phobiaIII/

top ten by hogger · 2003-10-08 05:43 · Score: 1

To use mandrake in a business environment, here's what I seem to usually install:

1. Mozilla Firebird (I use latest nightly build)
2. Thunderbird (pine for real geeks)
3. Gaim (centericq for real geeks)
4. OpenOffice (not mandrake's version)
5. xmms
6. vnc
7. mplayer
8. mozilla calendar
9. gkrellm
10. java + flash + real player for flash

On the winders side, here's what I usually install:
1. putty
2. firebird
3. open office
4. tightvnc
5. winamp ( version 3.0)

that's about it. In windows I usually ssh to a linux box and run pine and centericq for mail and chat. it works great, it's fast, and I get access to all my chat history and imap email.

To make open office much more usable, I run the following script in mandrake in .xinitrc:

#/usr/bin
soffice -quickstart && exec ooqs.sh

and name it ooqs.sh. it will keep OO preloaded permanently, files open almost instantly.

in mandrake, I run drakfont and import all my windows fonts. it makes word documents look MUCH better when imported.

all the above apps are free to use with no licensing fees. they're all well supported too.

Re:top ten by hogger · 2003-10-08 05:46 · Score: 1

a couple of corrections: this: 5. winamp ( version 3.0) was supposed to be this: 5. winamp (< version 3.0) and this: #/usr/bin was supposed to be this: #!/usr/bin

no gaming? by mAineAc · 2003-10-08 05:44 · Score: 1

Forget windows and install slackware. :)

top 10. by Kewjoe · 2003-10-08 05:44 · Score: 1

Browser: Mozilla Firebird 0.6.1 (or 0.7 nightly build)

Email: Thunderbird 0.2 (or 0.3 nightly build)

Office Suite: Open Office 1.1

SSH Client: Putty 0.53b

Graphics: Irfan View 3.85 or GIMP 1.2.5

Music: Winamp 2.91

Virus Scanner: AVG 7.0

Instant Messenger: Psi 0.9 or Trillian Basic 0.74E or gaim 0.70

Non-Copywrited Music downloads :P : WinMX 3.31

Video Player (paired with an ATI Video card): ATI MMC 7.6

FTP : LeapFTP 2.7.4

ok so that was 11 .. sorry ;)

PySol by coolerthanmilk · 2003-10-08 05:45 · Score: 1

Since everyone knows that solitaire is one of the measures of a real computer, you need a better solitaire to show how much better your computer is.

Go with PySol.

Free and can keep you busy for hours and hours and hours and...

Some software... Most mentioned by others.... by Anime_Fan · 2003-10-08 05:45 · Score: 1

*** Notices the list grew to more than 10. Will list 10 most important first ***
Opera, Mozilla Thunderbird, XMMS, Winamp, ffdshow, OpenOffice, Acrobat Reader, Xine, nmap, QuickTime (be sure to disable all qt autostart though, you don't use it often)

Since you said the box was designed to dual-boot between Mandrake and Windows XP Home, I'd standardize the Office/Web Browsing suite...

Opera 7.2x (www.opera.com) or Mozilla 1.4 (www.mozilla.org). If you can't stand Opera's ads or pay its cost (license available for Linux and Windows combo at reduced price), I'd go Mozilla.

Since the box was going to dualboot, I would use a mail-client that exists for both operating systems. Thus, I'd pass away on using Evolution (whoch is a great client). Instead I would use Mozilla Thunderbird (www.mozilla.org).

OpenOffice 1.1 (www.openoffice.org) is a given piece of software. I'm having more and more trouble with AbiWord these days, and OpenOffice just keeps improving. AbiWord should've been a truly nice word processor if it worked as it should.

The hard piece is getting a multimedia framework that functions all right on both platforms. mPlayer has improved, but I haven't tested it on Windows, so I have no idea.

Video For Linux: I'd probably go with Xine (xine.sf.net). Xine plays DVDs and standard media really well.

Video For Windows: Good old mplayer2.exe (C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\mplayer2.exe) works for most video files after ffdshow (ffdshow.sf.net). Most people tend to forget the need for video and audio compression codecs in Windows. You probably need the Ogg Vorbis DirectShow filter some time if you're not into QuickTime files ^^. I'll assume you find a good mp3 decoder as well.

Audio for Linux: XMMS is the way to go if you just want to listen to a song now and then. Rhythmbox is more for a person with lts of organozed music files and who likes to have all them files in a database. Rhythmbox also works with Multimedia keys under Gnome with the Multimedia keys daemon running. Nifty.
Audio for Windows: The classic Winamp (classic.winamp.com) is an old favorite. I would probably never give up on Winamp under windows. Unless of course Winamp 2.x was revoked somehow. Not that it'd happen.

I won't recommend a software firewall like some other users, simply because I haven't ever needed one. In fact, I loathe firewalls because I play with so many ports. If you do want the increased security, I recommend a good router to the internet. I'd also do a sanity check with nmap (from another IP, to check that firewall) (www.insecure.org) to ensure to remote ports was open when using windows.

For image editing, I would either learn how to use the GIMP (www.gimp.org). Personally, I hate that interface (and yes, I know it's better'). If I had the money and could stand doing image editing at home, I'd probably get Photoshop Elements.

Adobe Acrobat Reader (www.adobe.com) is free and a must have for Windows. I still don't there's a really good alternative for Windows. Linux has loads of stuff able to read pdf/postscript. I'll assume Mandrake won't let you down.

Other nice pieces of software include (though maybe not for the home user): PuTTY, OpenSSH, RealVNC, TightVNC, CygWin (!), ACDSee, Nero Burning ROM, BitTorrent, Daemon Tools, a Java runtime, TMPGENc, Virtual Dub, WinAce/WinRar/WinZip.

Another standard list by Fooknut · 2003-10-08 05:46 · Score: 1

Firebird (Browser)
Thunderbird (Email)
AVG Anti-virus
7-Zip (unzipper)
OpenOffice.org (office suite)
Gimp (paint package)
Editpad lite (code tool)
Rad Video tools
Winamp (media player)
Wings3D (3d modeler)

All free, all for windows.
life is good.

Google for "Gnuwin2" to find a lot more free windows software.

--
The price we pay for immortality... is death. Narnia The Great Fall

My list by JamesP · 2003-10-08 05:46 · Score: 1

Kazaa Lite
Windows XP
Office XP
ICQ
Norton SYstem WOrks
Acrobat Reader
Winamp
POwerDVD
EAC
OggDrop
CS/Q3/HL2 pre compiled...

--
how long until /. fixes commenting on Chrome?

Duh by Black+Jack+Baby! · 2003-10-08 05:47 · Score: 1

1. Netscape (both windoze and linux version) 2. The Gimp (or PS but that is big $$$) 3. OpenOffice 4. Evolution (mail program for linux - its great) 5. Gaim (IM client for linux - awesome) or MSN and AIM 6. xmms or winamp 7. kazaalite++ or gtk-gnutella (for linux) 8. Bit Torrent (linux and windoze) 9. No virus software because you should spend all your time in linux 10. Emulators for that classic gaming experience you miss so much!

My List by The+Raven · 2003-10-08 05:48 · Score: 1

As far as desktop apps go, I can only discuss Windows apps, since I don't use X at all. Linux = command line as far as I'm concerned.

Windows Only
AVG - Antivirus, free if you don't live in Europe.
Spybot - Antispyware, freeware.
Winamp - Nice for playing those mp3 collections.
Kazaa Lite - Nice for getting those mp3 collections. For the legal-minded, substitute a good cd ripping program (I don't know of a good free one, I use a pay app).
MAME - Bring back the memories.
Trillian - Save them from the AIM/MSN/ICQ mix and match hell.

Cross Platform
Tight VNC - Install it so you can remote-admin their computer easily when they screw it up.
Mozilla - Either Moz itself or one of it's 'light' siblings Firebird and Thunderbird for email and web browsing.

Shareware Worth Trying
Audiograbber: It's free to try, easy to rip with, and only $20 to register.
GetRight - Assists in downloading all those patches and apps.

--
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.

no nags by planarian · 2003-10-08 05:49 · Score: 1

For a good list of free no-strings software check out nonags.com

Nice, but missing quite some .. by n0d3 · 2003-10-08 05:51 · Score: 1

This is how I would setup my mom's PC if it where faster then a p1 233 : ) or my own for that matter On my Windows installation CD I have: LiteStep (it's a shell replacement, lighter, faster stabler then explorer.exe) WinRar (shareware, but who can't go without an zip/unzipping program) IrfanView +plugins (the #1 free image viewer it's fast!) Mozilla (or the seperated firebird + it's email client) Turbo Navigator (i have been to lazy to find a better File Manager replacement) OpenOffice (office suite usually doesn't get installed till I need it however) Sonique (for mp3 cos it is quite light and it looks hot. however winamp is under active development and is considerd the more cooler player) BSDPlayer (A free great video player however ifranview plays video's aswell if needed but for divx or similar viewing this one is recommended.) gvim for win (cos i don't wanna load op OOo for every file i want to view) Nero (usually ends up later in my 'image' cos i do most of my burning under linux generally) it comes with your pc/drive and XP *barf* does burning too so not really needed. These are my and probably most basic apps. You might need ftp client or such things but this should suffice for basic windows tasks. And most of them are free. On a side note, the main reason I'd be in windows would be to play games, HAVE to use word (that i haevn't luckly installed for years) because OOo won't handle the file, burn some ISO i can't bother to figure out to burn in *nix and play a game that there is no linux version off, hence I use win98se still which works just great for me. At work i need to use lotus notes cos it's like important there, and i'm stuck with win2k but all to my needs configured with pretty much those apps. For linux it is harder for me to make a list because there's ton's of little apps i install because of either dependancies or just cos they seem handy, but your basic setup besides the OS itself, windowmanager and desktop manager should be something like Gvim (duh) gentoo (filemanager but i assume your DM will have a FM in it) Mozilla (if you need both mail and browser I don't see a reason to use the seperated packages) qiv as a quick image viewer gmplayer for video playing OpenOffice (the advantage of using OOo in win and nix is that once you are used to it, you are used to it. xmms (for your mp3 needs allthough gmplayer suffices in this quite well too) That's really all you basically need. much needed is gkrellm though : ), who does not have it? + it is easy sensor monitor and volume controller and mail notifier. The Gimp might be handy if you want to do image manipulation but I don't think that's really needed on a home system. But since most win users suffice with MSPaint Xpaint or the gimp might be handy. That's really what I got and i must say it works just fine for me.

Only 3 things you really need for a home system by Chapium · 2003-10-08 05:53 · Score: 1

IE6 with flash & java installed, a word processor (abiword,openoffice,ms word), and possibly an email program like thunderbird or outlook express --virus scanner a must!.

If they do music; winamp or musicmatch, or just media player since its already there.

Other than that, possibly something to manipulate photos like Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, or Gimp.

A firewall would be good too if the user is willing to put up with it

Surviving on the Internet with Windows XP by kris · 2003-10-08 05:57 · Score: 1

You need in this order

1. A personal firewall in order to disable your Windows RPC ports. This is necessary or MS Blaster will kill you before you can say "Windows Update".
2. H+B Antivir, free edition (http://www.freeav.de), in order to learn if you are infected with any of the current pests.
3. XP Antispy, in order to disable all the phoning home functions of Windows XP.
4. Then you need to go online and use Windows Update until it stops. That will be between 100 and 150 MB of updates, thank you, Sir!
5. Then you need the MS Powertoys, and about 15 minutes of playing in order to set up Windows XP in a state where it can be actually used.
6. Then you need an alternate browser and mail reader such as mozilla. You can start to think about droping MSIE and Outlook Express, in order to prevent further virus infections.
7. Then you need OpenOffice, current version plus any addons you find worthwhile.

That will cover the bare essentials. You now still have 3 of 10 downloads for fun things.

Kristian

Privoxy by Le+Marteau · 2003-10-08 05:57 · Score: 1

Blocks most ads, pop-ups, scripting nasties, and it's highly configurable.

You can edit HTML streams before they reach your browser using regexps (e.g. change 'leet speak to something less idiotic)

It allows you to dynamically raise the intelligence of the net, and that is priceless.

--
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs

The same for both worlds by yope · 2003-10-08 06:12 · Score: 1

First, if you're really going to use WindowsXP, don't be so foolish to save on good AV software; think that you just spent US$200.- or so on Windows alone. (maybe you could get a refund and just use Linux :-) Anyway, here's my list of recommendations, the same for both worlds wherever possible in the format: Application:windows,linux

Office:OpenOffice.org-1.1,OpenOffice.org-1.1

Browser:Mozilla,Mozilla or Konqueror

Email:Mozilla,Mozilla or Kmail

Video:MPlayer,MPlayer

Audio:WinAMP,XMMS

PDF/PS converter:Ghostscript,Ghostscript

Video-Edit:(don't know),Kino or Cinelerra

Foto-edit:Gimp,Gimp

Audio-edit:CoolEdit,Audacity

Text-editor:(don't know),NEdit

Of course, windows needs a lot of extra stuff, such as Firewall, Anti-Virus software, Spy-ware removal, decent telnet/SSH clients, decent shell (CygWin+bash), etc...

MP3 Player by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:15 · Score: 0

FWIW, QCD is my favorite, simple Windows MP3 Player.
http://www.quinnware.com/

I like it better than WinAmp or MusicMatch.
Of course by the end of the month, we may see iTunes for Windows.

My picks by Fweeky · 2003-10-08 06:18 · Score: 1

foobar 2000 for music playback without Winamp's awful tiny unintuitive UI and with plenty of features to keep any audio-lover happy.
Media Player Classic - A great, lightweight but featureful WMP6-alike.
For more advanced users, PenguiNet - a lovely Windows SSH/telnet client. Not as lightweight or free as PuTTY, but more intuitive, and has my name on it :)
Something addictive.
Opera and/or Firebird.. must wean all those users off IE.
DScaler - I'm yet to find a better TV Card app. Lightweight, stable, and Free.
DigiGuide - Excellent TV guide, in the UK at least.
WinRar - as vital for Windows as gzip is for *ix.
Nero - Must-have CD-RW software.
Ad-Aware and friends.

Good free software for Windows by doodleboy · 2003-10-08 06:18 · Score: 3, Informative

Despite Microsoft's press releases to the contrary, Windows machines are not secure and need decent firewall and antivirus software. I see others have already mentioned the Kerio firewall, so I'll just add that it can be easily extended with Sponge's excellent, freely available filters. (I'm using set 2, but there are versions that are both more or less rigorous). I've also AVG Antivirus installed it seems to work well enough.

Some other useful free utilities:

Tclockex
A small utility that greatly increases the usefullness of the system tray clock. You can have the date as well as the time, as well as a resource monitor that lets you know at a glance how the system is doing.

AboutTime"
A little applet that sets the system clock from a list of time servers. Works well and unobtrusively.

7-zip
An easy to use explorer plug-in that understands most kinds of compressed files.

CDex
A great tool for ripping / converting CDs and mp3s.

X-teq>
A very powerful utility that lets you change pretty much everything that's changeable in Windows. Allows you to set Windows update registration done, which would only be useful to pirates and won't be mentioned here.

The Proxomitron
A web proxy that strips out ads, pop-ups and other garbage.

I'm more familiar with Redhat, but I have no doubt Mandrake will come out of the box with programs that are functionally equivalent to the ones listed here.

Re:Good free software for Windows by Snaller · 2003-10-08 10:52 · Score: 1

X-teq>
A very powerful utility that lets you change pretty much everything that's changeable in Windows. Allows you to set Windows update registration done, which would only be useful to pirates and won't be mentioned here.

Screw "update registration" - what we need is something (other than microsoft) which can activate XP ;-)

--
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating

Great Free Programs by schroedlzone · 2003-10-08 06:20 · Score: 1

Mozilla (all around great)
Winamp (simple is good)
Openoffice.org (microsoft = bad)
gvim (for the programmer)
FiZip (forget winzip and it's ads)
putty & Vnc (connect to remote systems)
ACE FTP (freeware, easy to register for ad free)
XP power tools
sysinternals.com (for very useful small power tool-like free apps)

RE: You MUST have NetHack installed on everything. by namespan · 2003-10-08 06:23 · Score: 4, Funny

You MUST have NetHack installed on everything...

In fact, once you install nethack on everything, you won't need to install anything else for months or years, considering how much else you're actually going to get done...

--
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.

Digital Photo Organizer by avi4now · 2003-10-08 06:24 · Score: 2, Insightful

Digital Photos are certainly now one of the top ten uses for family PCs.

I highly recommend using some Digiphoto Organization software, it's just leaps and bounds over storing photos as files in folders.

These packages help organize, view, and browse your digiphoto collection, then actually do something with the photos: format them for email, printing, web galleries, calendars, greeting cards, etc.

There are plenty of choices in Windows, but I don't know of any usable packages for Linux. Of course, for OSX there's iPhoto (free!)

I've been using Photoshop Album since it was released in February, and I've been very happy with it. Version 2 was released on Monday, and there's now a free Starter Edition - so there's no excuse not to try it!

Some other digital photo management software:

Re:Digital Photo Organizer by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 14:12 · Score: 0

This is probably off target because these apps are $ware, but I tried both the Adobe and Jasc starter versions, and paid the bucks for Jasc because it worked so much better. Note that both programs also output VCDs of pics playable on many home DVD players.

Devils Advocate by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:26 · Score: 0

As someone who has to use WinXP (yup, im a gamer), i use mostly. Winamp 2.x IE Office XP Photoshop AdAware Moopeg WinACE MSN Messenger Swishmax Notepad thats pretty much it. I'd say that they account for >90% of my time.

My List for Everyday Use by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:27 · Score: 1, Interesting

These are some of the free (speech or beer) software I'd install on a family, non-gaming machine:

Web Browser: Mozilla or Mozilla Firebird
E-mail: Mozilla (cross-platform), Mozilla Thunderbird (cross-platform), Evolution (Gnome), or KMail (KDE)
Office Suite: OpenOffice.org
Media Player: QuickTime (Windows), Zinf (cross-platform), RealPlayer (cross-platform), WinAmp (Windows), MPlayer (Windows), XMMS (Linux)
Image Viewer: IrfanView (Windows)
Instant Messaging: Gaim (cross-platform)
Personal Information Management: Palm Desktop Software (great PIM suite even if you don't own a Palm)
Other: Acrobat Reader (although I'm weary of their DRM), Java 2 Runtime Environment, Macromedia Flash and Shockwave players, Ad-Aware (spyware remover for Windows), ZoneAlarm, Sygate Personal Firewall (firewall, alternative to ZoneAlarm), Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus, FileZilla, WinRAR (not free, shareware with nag window), Ofoto desktop software (basic photo album and touch-ups, even if you don't use Ofoto's online services)

Some other software I'd install on my own desktop (dev), in decreasing order of importance:

Cygwin, bascially all packages
UltraEdit32 (45-day trial shareware)
TightVNC
Ghostscript and GSView
Java 2 SDK
Eclipse
Borland JBuilder Personal
ActiveState Perl, Python, Tcl/Tk (yes, even though they are in Cygwin), Jython
GIMP
POV-Ray
At least one of Apache, Tomcat, or Plone (Zope)
HTTrack (a website copier)

Link correction by RuB1X · 2003-10-08 06:28 · Score: 1

Here is the correct link for Ad-Aware.

--
I mean, what's the point of living...if you don't have a dick?

archive utills by Dysphoric · 2003-10-08 06:29 · Score: 1

well i see some neat apps but the main threads ive read leave out obvious software for a home pc. what about winrar/winace both can handle most other compression methods including .tar .gz which will come in handy with ure mandrake part...

--
sig censored by america

This isn't an anti-MS post... by Atmchicago · 2003-10-08 06:30 · Score: 1

but if you are just looking for a home pc I wouldn't get Windows XP at all. There is a website (forget the link, sorry) that tells you how to get a full refund for any MS software that is bundled with your computer that you do not use.

The reason I would stay away from Windows is that many Linux distros come with all the free software you can possibly need, whereas Windows is $$$.

GNOME and KDE are great, and they both come with web browsers, mail programs (evolution looks similar to outlook if you like that), imaging software, ftp clients, firewalls, etc... Then there are the benefits of Linux vs Windows such as system security and stability.

Those are my two cents.

--

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.

My list by danila · 2003-10-08 06:33 · Score: 3, Interesting

Here is what I use, for what it's worth. Sorry, no links, too lazy for that - AllTheWeb is your friend.

Top 10:
Browser - Opera
Mail client - The Bat!
IM - Miranda
File navigator - FAR
Treepad - extremely useful thing
Winamp - play music
BSPlayer or Sasami2k - play video
Antivirus - Kaspersky AVP
ACDSee or IrfanView to view images. PicaView is also very cool.
Firewall - AtGuard!

some more
Spam filter - either use built-in or get K9 (easy to use bayesian filter)
A news reader (if needed) - ForteAgent (although I don't like it, but haven't seen anything better)
Media Player Classic with Real and Quicktime support (check Kazaa Lite Plus page) - no need to use clunky proprietary players
Something to rip CDs, encode MP3s and record CDs. I use Nero and RazorLame. A virtual CD, like Alcohol 120%, may be.
Image editor - PhotoImpact
To view annoying PDF files - Acrobat Reader
WatzNew - to check websites
Proximotron - for fixing the web :)
Internet Maniac - a bunch of tools like Ping and Traceroute
NetLimiter - manage bandwidth between applications
filesharing - Kazaa, eMule, Shareaza
Download managers - Offline Explorer
Stream downloaders - StreamBox
Alarm - Music Alarm Clock (the only one I know with fadein/fadeout)
Desknote - to place post-it notes on your desktop
Cool Desk - virtual desktops
Ad-aware - to remove adware and spyware
VoptXP - drive defragmenter
Remote Administrator or VNC - for remote administration
PGPTools - encryption

Yeah, it's more than 10, but there is no such thing as too much software. :)

--
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.

What is XP for? by Potent · 2003-10-08 06:34 · Score: 1

Considering the non-emphasis on gaming, and the desire for a general purpose "family" machine at low cost, what is Windows XP for?

Everything that he desired is included with Mandrake. (except, of course, the anti-virus stuff - which he won't need with Mandrake.) :)

Just my $0.02...
--

--
Out of order? Fuck! Even in the future nothing works! - Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) "Spaceballs"

Good for email lists by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:36 · Score: 0

Ok, maybe not for the common man, but anyone who uses email heavily is no doubt on a few mailing lists. If you get digests, then they can be a pain to read. So, try something that digests the digests and spits them out in a format that's easy to browse: Digest Handler

Then you can even reply directly to a post without having to cut the appropriate parts out of the digest listing. I hate that.

Made with Java and available for Windows and MacOS X. Should also work in Linux, but I don't see a download for that version.

Security counts by abb3w · 2003-10-08 06:40 · Score: 1

Umm... I seem to recall hearing of a security problem in 2.x that was fixed in 3. This would make recommending 2 a Bad Thing, if true.
Has anyone compared the free AV stuff versus the pay stuff for how well it dectects viruses, and how long of a vulnerable period you have? I run daily updates on all virus defs on the 50 computers I take care of, and I *still* worry about the 8 hours between the morning update and the close of business....
Sorry, but a Brand-Name Anti-Virus is one of a few things I *will* cough up money for.

--
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.

Re:Security counts by AnotherShep · 2003-10-08 06:58 · Score: 1

2.x and 3.x are completely different. The fix was made to both.
Re:Security counts by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:08 · Score: 0

The latest version of Winamp 2 is 4 months newer than the latest Winamp 3. If there were any security issues, I'm sure they've been fixed.

Avant! by Ravaging+Psycho · 2003-10-08 06:41 · Score: 1

I used to be a huge Opera fan, I still use it at work. But I've recently been turned on to an IE add on called Avant. The initial load time is a little slow, but it changes IE to a "browser desktop" style. So for casual browsing, its two clicks to close all of those annoying pop up adds. Plus, I could never get media player snap ins and such to work with Opera, since Avant is an add on, all of that functionality is built into it already.

Re:Avant! by hkmwbz · 2003-10-08 09:27 · Score: 1

Unfortunately, you also get a buggy and insecure rendering engine - MSIE. I would recommend Opera or Mozilla over any MSIE based browser/shell any day.

--
Clever signature text goes here.
Re:Avant! by robogun · 2003-10-08 13:27 · Score: 1

Well, you are still exposed to MSIE insecurities.

It really sucks to get r00ted thru your browser.

My Choices by Enoch+Zembecowicz · 2003-10-08 06:41 · Score: 1

Both Platforms: OpenOffice.org Mozilla Router w/ NAT between you and outside world Windows: Ad Aware Spybot Search and Destroy Hijack This WinAMP Linux: CenterICQ XMMS Xine J-Pilot

--
"Who's going to believe a talking head?" - Herbert West

Windows must have software by egarland · 2003-10-08 06:44 · Score: 3, Interesting

This is what I make sure all the Windows computers I send out have:

Windows 2000 or XP (Anything older is more trouble than it's worth.)
Open Office
Mozilla and plugins:
- Quick Time
- Real Player
- Flash player
- Java JRE
Acrobat Reader
WinZip
Winamp
RealVNC (If they will ever need help)
Tweak UI
Norton Antivirus (or one of the free ones if it's not worth the money)

I put these on every Windows machine, no matter what it will be doing. After that, you need to look at what it will be used for to determine what software should be on there.

--
set softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab nocp worlddomination

Top 10 by Bendebecker · 2003-10-08 06:45 · Score: 1

1. Open Office 2. Real Player 3. Winamp 4. Getright 5. Norton AntiVirus/ Internet Security 6. mIRC 7. AIM 8. Quicktime 9. CD Extreme/Easy CD Creator Pro 10. ICQ

--
There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
most of us won't be able to afford it.
-- Lemmy

wharf by Tom · 2003-10-08 06:48 · Score: 1

Here's my wharf from top to bottom:

* Firebird - are there any other browsers?
* mutt (in Eterm) - mail the way it was built to be. Ok, you might want to substitute it with mozilla mail or some other GUI thingy for a family system
* LyX - even my mum wrote her letters in that
* Eterm - for everything commandline

you probably also need:
* Logoff/Powerdown button - unless you want to give mum the root password. :)

--
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org

Another few essentials by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:49 · Score: 0

IrfanView
WinZip - I know zip is integrated, I still use it.
ZoneAlarm
Acrobat reader
Divx codec (for viewing, not encoding)
RealPlayer - cause if I install it, I can trim it down and remove all the extra crap.
Google toolbar

I like startup cop as well but msconfig there if xp pro.

I also recommend backing up the wpa.dbl file. If it is accidentially deleted, you can get screwed.

Some Suggestions of My Own by GarfBond · 2003-10-08 06:51 · Score: 1

When you install the software on the users' machine, please make sure that you explain to them, if at least briefly, on how to use ALL of them. This way, when the users start using Mozilla or OpenOffice, they won't immediately succumb to using IE or MSoffice again (not an option on Linux, but at least they won't feel confused :) ).

Software I think deserves to be on your list:

Mozilla Seamonkey Suite Your "classic" mozilla install
Mozilla Firebird. The smaller Mozilla browser, but still damn good
Mozilla Thunderbird. Mozilla mail, smaller yet. Complete with built in spam filtering :)
Winamp 2.x. Can't beat a classic
Sun J2RE 1.4.2 Probably not necessary, but best to get it installed and out there.
RealOne Player BASIC. Despite what you think about Real, RealOne isn't such a horrible player, and RV9 isn't a bad codec. Their marketing department needs to be hit with a giant stick though, so make sure you disable all the "automatic options" in realone. Link is to a direct download of the Realone basic player, no hunting for the free version :) CDex Damn good ripping software for windows, and one of the easiest ways to get Ogg on windows.

My Top 10 by LilMikey · 2003-10-08 06:51 · Score: 2, Informative

Windows
1) OpenOffice -- free
2) AVG -- free
3) Gaim -- free
4) Media Player Classic -- free
5) Nero -- ~$50
6) PowerDVD -- ~$50
7) PSP -- ~$50
8) AdAware -- free
9) Sygate Personal Firewall -- free
10) SecondLife :) -- tiered monthly

It's a bit unbalaced to list applications for Linux as so much ships with the distributions but so little is handcuffed to them. But here's what I seem to use the most:

Linux
1) MythTV -- free
2) OpenOffice -- free
3) Evolution -- free
4) Gaim -- free
5) MPlayer -- free
6) Xine -- free
7) Gimp -- free
8) Mozilla -- free
9) XMMS -- free
10) Dia -- free

--
LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto

for image editing, just get the GIMP by ubiquitin · 2003-10-08 06:52 · Score: 1

The GIMP has a pretty robust featureset and you can download it for Linux or buy it for Win32 or the Mac.

--
http://tinyurl.com/4ny52

My list by MrResistor · 2003-10-08 06:53 · Score: 1

Open Office and Mozilla will take care of probably 95% of your families needs. Both are cross-platform, so there shouldn't be any familiarity issues if you later decide you want to switch the whole family over to Linux (which I did, and it's worked out great for me).

Using Mozilla for browsing and email gives a suprising amount of virus protection. I've been quite happy with Moz mail, though the news portion could use a few more features.

On the Windows side I like FileZilla for FTP and 7-Zip for opening various compressed files. You'll probably also want Quicktime and RealOne for those formats WMP doesn't handle. Optionally, you may want WinAmp as well, though if you don't spend a lot of time listening to music on your computer it's kinda pointless. If you have a burner or DVD drive the software that came with it is probably fine (I was partial to Nero and PowerDVD respectively, but YMMV).

On Linux, the one media player you need is mplayer. There will be some pain getting everything downloaded and compiled, but it's worth the effort (note: even if it comes in the distro, which it probably does, download all the codecs and the cvs and compile it yourself anyway, it's not THAT hard). XMMS is nice for listening to CDs, MP3s, etc. I haven't done any FTP uploading on Linux, so I have no idea what I'd use for that. Moz or Konqueror take care of my download needs, and I use either Konq or tar/gzip to open compressed files (depending on my objective).

I think that pretty much covers the stuff my family uses.

--
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.

Cygwin by wilper · 2003-10-08 06:53 · Score: 1

For your own sanitys sake get cygwin, and if you have a decent connection to the Internet get the XFree86 port running or install XWin32.

My 2 cents by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 06:54 · Score: 0

Windows / Linux
IE6 / Mozilla
Outlook / Evolution
Nero / K3B
WMP9 / Xine + Ogle (dvd)
OpenOffice /OpenOffice + Lyx for course work
Winamp / Xmms
Solitaire / Lbreakout (time wasters)
Paintshop Pro or Photoshop / Gimp is not as easy as those though

Some kind of digital camera software for linux and scanner software (xsane is my personal choise here)

Must have a PC ... by fatdave · 2003-10-08 06:55 · Score: 1

But I don't know why!!

Come on, surely you have some percieved NEED before you spalsh out on a PC for home. Get software to meet that need, your need. Not software to create needs you never knew you had.

sheesh.. some wierd people out there. I can understand people asking if there is good software to do X but 'I've got a PC, what shoudl I do with it?' takes the biscuit, even for slashdot. ..d

--
--- Four bases should be enough for any genetic code

My top 10 in no order by djonce · 2003-10-08 06:58 · Score: 1

For windows:
OpenOffice 1.1
Mozilla Firebird (+ flash and java)
Mozilla Thunderbird
Adobe Acrobat
The Gimp
WS_FTP Lite
Boingo
WinAmp 2.x
Gaim
Irfanview

I would add a few more however...Bittorrent, CDex, and WinZip come to mind.

For Linux:
Everything should really be included with your distro, especially if you choose something as comprehensive as Mandrake. However, I would go with a flavor of Debian.

LOL! by exhilaration · 2003-10-08 06:59 · Score: 1

Mod parent up!! :)

What about the games!??!!??!!?!? by pitdingo · 2003-10-08 07:02 · Score: 1

No system is complete without Civilization 3!

Zinf by Yort · 2003-10-08 07:09 · Score: 1

I usually install Zinf, formerly known as FreeAmp. It's pretty similar to WinAmp. I can't speak to all it's features, as I only use it to play my Ogg files, but I've never had a problem with it. Troy

Amusing by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 07:13 · Score: 0

It seems to be clear what is the most popular software/OS is in slashdot, so I will not even give windowz a go (And because in all honesty I have no idea how its doing these days).

Linux (I choose MDK 9.1 cauz I'm a n00b and need to study my CLI commands((Lazy bugger)))

Video: Does not really matter Xine or Mplayer or whatever you will as long as U got them mplayer codecs. Cinelerra- Video editing (for all those fabulous home movies wich bore the hell out of your friends).Real Player- for uhmm... real media!

Sound: XMMS- for playing mp3's/Ogg Kaudio creator/Grip- to anoy the RIAA with Ure pirarcy VCL- yeah yeah ya can use it for video through lan but U get lag with the sound so I only use it to stream sound. Rosegarden- For all those pop star wanna B's

Graphics: GimP- needs no explanation. Blender- For all them George Lucas special FX superstar wanna B's. Povray Modeler- as above. Quick view- for err... quick viewing of pr0n picz. Xane- for scanning (Check that scanner compatability before hand though).

Networking: Firestarter (easiest off all firewalls to get up and running). Bit Torrent- U know what 4. Limewire- as above. gFTP- for Ure FTP needs. Kget- download sincronise resume thingy. Komba2/Ksamba plugins- Easiest way to network with them H4x0r windowz b0xenZ. Mozilla- clasic or firebird will do Ust fine. Kmail or Evolution- for that U got mail feel (I prefer Kmail for that whole consistency Xperience). Gaim- To chat with Ure l33t H4x0r friends. Kopete- the same as above but looks nicer in KDE. LICQ- If ya ust use ICQ then this one is better than the previous 2.. Its got more features.

miscellanious- IPtraf (monitoring Ure kids pr0n habit), nessus/nmap (to make sure ure firewall iz not being h4x0red)

Office: Open Office- K thats it nothing else to see here, move along (if/when you install KDE you get that Kword stuff, a bit useless on the compatability side but does k). kwrite/edit/mc/vi/emac- quick file edit (the first 2 are the easiest don't let anyone tell ya otherwise!!!). K3B- Need ta burn a CD/DVD/ RiP a DVD and look funky @ the same time? No you don't need a MAC you need this. ARK/UNRAR- for thouse ZIP's BZ TAR's and RAAAAAR's (he he)

And finally GAMES:

RTCW Enemy Territory- Best free B bar none

Americas Army

Parsec - great sound track

Legends

Egoboo (An all other Nethack gamez)

BZflag

Frozen Buble

Tux Racer

Cannon Smash

Armagetron

Trackball

NIL- cool worms clone

Infernall Contractor 2 - funny

Phobia 3 - sound track r0x

Chronium

zsnes

xmame

gnomeBoyAdvanced

Anti Virus/pop up/spyware- What tis ze Virus/pop/spyware?!?!? =D

And that flight simulator ehhmm wings or something. ohh yeah and search and rescue helicopter sim.

check www.happypenguin.org for more games.

These are all free, therefore on topic. Yet there's still tones more stuff but it falls under the propietary/wareZ section.

Digit0's 2 penc

(P.S. Only MS software round my net is Office cauze silly ppl keep on sending me these daft documents that break in OOo)

Question was by nuggz · 2003-10-08 07:15 · Score: 1

The question is what are the Top 10 software titles a home computer needs.

In my opinion, I think a home cpmputer needs those applications.
I also think the proper OS for a home user might be Linux, particularly if Joe slashdot is going to maintain it.

The linux side by middle · 2003-10-08 07:15 · Score: 1

I completely switched from win2lnx@home some months ago so I won't be able to tell many good & chep win applications. In despair of the 500+ comments this post got I want to havy my words on it :

#For the linux side :

Firebird + Thunderbird (Evolution if you want sumting more advanced)
mplayer
mplayer-plugin
dvd-rip + transcode
xmms
gimp
amsn
LimeWire
irssi
Open Office
quake 3

#And for the Windows Side

AVG tough Norton if you can afford it
echo y|format c: /u/s
Irfanview (free)
PowerDVD (not free but really worth it. comes bundled with many laptops/DVD-R's)
OpenOffice
echo y|format c: /u/s
Firebird + Thunderbird
ws ftp lite
Kazaa Lite
mirc
echo y|format c: /u/s
winamp
gimp
echo y|format c: /u/s
sheep.exe (just can't live without it)

Have fun.

Format c:

P.S. At least I'll get the 1st post... by the end :P

Dual-boot caution by cyoung1035 · 2003-10-08 07:16 · Score: 1

I dual-booted Windows XP Professional and Mandrake 9.0 with no problems. When I upgraded to Mandrake 9.1, it completely hosed the boot sector -- wouldn't boot XP, wouldn't boot Mandrake. I eventually had to completely uninstall Mandrake, reformat the boot sector, and run three system restores on XP before I was even able to get to the boot screen.

Seen it myself, still recommend ZA by hetairoi · 2003-10-08 07:16 · Score: 1

I've seen this problem myself on my own machine. I was trying to join a friends local network while visiting his home and we could not figure out why I couldn't see the other machines. I finally UNINSTALLED zonealarm and everything worked fine (have not seen the uninstall bug mentioned in another post). Seems like the problem lies with za's truevector thingy, it's still wants to filter the tcp stack even when za is shut down.

HOWEVER .... I still highly recommend ZoneAlarm for home users because I haven't seen anything better (I will be looking into Kerio). All software has problems and ZA is not immune, but for the most part it's a non-issue.

The only OS I've seen problems with is XP pro. I've been running different versions of ZA on win98 and win2k boxes for years (both ZA free and Pro) without a single problem. It takes a little effort to get setup so it doesn't annoy the user constantly, but once it's in it does its job well.

The only case where I'm against it's use is corportate environment or SOHO network. And in both of those cases there should be either a hardware firewall or a router with a built in firewall to take it's place. A standalone Windows box is naked without ZoneAlarm.

That's just my opinion, but I'm normally paid pretty well for it.

--
you're all figments of my deranged imagination

multimedia by imhotep · 2003-10-08 07:17 · Score: 1

For Windows:
- Image viewer: nothing tops ACDSee _Classic_ (www.acdsee.com), it's fast to load and easy to use
- Music player: Winamp

For Linux:
- Video player: mplayer. although I noticed sometimes videos flicker when in fullscreen mode. the image transition is not smooth. (Any thoughts on how to fix that?)
- Music player: mpg123

Nethack! by Quixadhal · 2003-10-08 07:18 · Score: 1

Ok, so you need:

0 development suite (gcc, gdb)
1 word processor (vim)
2 spreadsheet (sc)
3 database (postgres)
4 mail client (mutt or thunderbird)
5 web browser (lynx or firebird)
6 news reader (tin or thunderbird)
7 music player (mp3blaster or winamp or xmms)
8 instant messanger (zicq or gaim or trillian)
9 sanity management tool (nethack)

I can't believe no one said nethack was an essential tool for the desktop! You guys probably all sacrifice your little dog on the first alter you come across too... *grin*

don't forget about portability by calethix · 2003-10-08 07:33 · Score: 1

Since you're going to dual boot, it might be nice to try to get programs (where applicable) that are available for Windows and Linux.
For instance, let's say for the sake of argument that Eudora is better than Thunderbird. Thunderbird may still be a better option since you could use it in Windows and Linux.
At least I don't think there's a Linux version of Eudora. I've never used it very much.

Being able to use the same app under both OSes will definitely be a big plus. Especially if your plan is to make other less technical people comfortable with using Linux.

My list by Juise · 2003-10-08 07:40 · Score: 1

On the windows side:

1) Nimo codec pack: If you're a multimedia person you must have this. Sometimes its hard to configure properly for what you need, but its well worth the hassle. FREE

2) Media Player Classic: Awesome no bloat, but highly functional media player. FREE

3) Putty: Nice neat simple ssh/telnet client for windows. FREE

4) Grab it: Simple news reader. FREE

5) Google Toolbar: Must have for IE users. FREE

6) Trillian: Multinetwork IM client. FREE/PAY

7) Outlook Express: Call me crazy but if you set it up properly it's a nice mail client. FREE

8) XP Antispy: A little tool for getting rid of some the things XP does that it shouldn't in the first place. Like stopping msn from launching with Outlook Express. FREE

9) Open Command Window Here XP Powertoy: Even in the year 2003 you still need the dos command line in windows this makes it a lil easier to deal with. FREE

10) FlashFXP: Even if you dont need the FXP functionality its still a damn good FTP client. SHAREWARE

Linux:

1) Samba: If you have windows computers this makes life a whole lot easier.

2) Gaim: Multiclient IM

3) Mozilla: I know its been mentioned a Bjillion times before but hey...

4) Mplayer: End all be all of multimedia on linux.

5) Mame: While theres a neverending supply of games for windows mame for linux helps to keep you gaming.

6) gcc: If your going to run linux, learn to compile software from the source. You'll be glad yo did.

7) The latest/or your favorite kernel: This all part of what linux is about. Complete control over your own computer. Learn how to compile custom kernels that suit you.

8) Open Office.org: Just because.

Ok I dont feel like typing anymore :) Look for your self and try different programs. You may not like what the masses do.

--
The past is just the present only older -me-

Zone Alarm by DoorFrame · 2003-10-08 07:41 · Score: 1

Zone Alarm had some internal problems and stopped functioning on my computer. I thought, "Gee, I'm glad it told me that it's not working, when I get around to it I'll uninstall, then reinstall."

But oh, no, you see, when Zone Alarm stops working it decides that NOTHING should work. Apparently it set up some sort of Proxy where all webpages were non-functional and only gave me a message about how Zone Alarm wasn't working so I shouldn't do ANYTHING online until I got it fixed. I tried disabling it, I tried shutting down the program. In the end I had to uninstall it, and I'm not going to reinstall it because I don't want to have to go through that hassle again.

If a program stops working it's nice of it to tell you so, it's not nice for it to decide that you're no longer allowed to access the Internet.

--

--
RumorsDaily

Better than Winamp by skryche · 2003-10-08 07:43 · Score: 1

...is foobar2000. Great features, small footprint.

Whenever a programmer thinks, "Hey, skins, what a cool idea", their computer's speakers should create some sort of cock-shaped soundwave and plunge it repeatedly through their skulls.

An excellent Notepad replacement is metapad. No faster editor has more features, and no editor with more features is faster.

Here's My Top 10... by darth_silliarse · 2003-10-08 07:46 · Score: 1

I can only give you my top 10 and hope it ties in with other peoples:

Anti Virus - AVG - Updated regularly and free for non commercial use - FREE
Browser - Mozilla - A stable and standards compliant browser, and not tied in with the OS unlike IE! - FREE
Compression - PowerArchiver - Freeware ZIP/RAR/CAB/LHA/TAR/etc/etc! - FREE
Security - ZoneAlarm - For piece of mind when connected - FREE
Email - MailWasher - Eliminate spam without downloading to your computer - FREE
Registry - RegCleaner - An invaluable registry tool - FREE
MP3 - WinAmp - Still my fav MP3 player after all these years - FREE
MPEG - VLC - A very comprehensive media player - FREE
CD - Daemon Tools - A CD emulator, once a gamer has used this they never uninstall it! - FREE
Games - MAME - An arcade emulator... essential for people over the age of 25! - FREE
FTP & Download - LeechFTP - Unintrusive, easy to use, hard to crash (unlike BPFTP) - FREE

Well thats my two penneth anyway :o)

--
I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born - Ronald Reagan

... or simply by CPCA · 2003-10-08 07:47 · Score: 1

knoppix >> http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-old-en.html

Other fine suggestions. by DaedalusLogic · 2003-10-08 07:55 · Score: 2, Informative

HTML-Kit by Chami and can be found at www.chami.com is an excellent editor for programming. It has the ability to plug in modules. It is one of the primary reasons I still use Windows at all. There are some OSS solutions coming of age but nothing I like well enough yet.

PDF Creator as a replacement for Adobe Acrobat.
RealVNC as a replacement for PCAnywhere.

Of course you know a lot of the GPL stuff is cross platform so that's good...

Let's see other stuff I have on my CD, and I do have all the good stuff Gunslinger mentioned...

Snadboy's Revelation (Password Recovery for *** fields)
Password Safe
PuTTY for SSH and Telnet
MySQL-Front for GUI DB use.
WS-FTP for non-com use.
Audacity for sound file editing.
Divx
dBPowerAmp for music conversion
Trillian and GAIM for IM... bite me Yahoo.

I could go on for hours... I'm a professional cheapskate!

Re:Other fine suggestions. by an_mo · 2003-10-08 08:07 · Score: 1

The UltraVNC version of RealVNC is much much better and faster
Re:Other fine suggestions. by ninthwave · 2003-10-08 08:57 · Score: 1
HTML-Kit yes I just want a port of that to Linux. No one needs to copy it, they just need to take their source and port it that is a wonderful product.

My ten

Windows
1. HTML-Kit
2. OpenOffice.org
3. Mozilla (I don't seperate out the mail and web yet I should probably will try that next but for now Mozilla)
4. FileZilla
5. PuTTY
6. ActiveState Perl
7. Win Amp 3
8. Win Zip
9. Java SDK
10. Borland C++ Compiler
Linux

I have yet to find an app that I don't need to do more than update from what is on the distributions I use. A good distro is worth more than listing apps, a good distribution should have enough apps that you can try them out and get to the ones you like.
--
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said: "I drank what?" - Chris Knight (Val Kilmer)- Real Genius
Re:Other fine suggestions. by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 09:04 · Score: 1

I agree. It's faster because: it uses TightVNC encoding, which means even a 56K can do fairly well with it, and it uses a custom video driver, which gives it performance very similar to MS Terminal Server. It also provides file transfer and chat - I just shot SO7eval over to my box off of my laptop that way.
Re:Other fine suggestions. by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 09:12 · Score: 2, Informative

On Windows (the only OS I'm using right now, and my Inspiron 1100 probably won't get SuSE due to it's extreme Windevice usage), here goes (not in any particular order):
1. Acrobat Reader
2. WinZip
3. Opera 7.20
4. Eudora 6
5. Google Toolbar (even if you don't use IE, you should put it on your CD)
6. StarOffice 7 (it's for educational uses, OK?)
7. UltraVNC (client only if it's not your box)
8. AVG AntiVirus (for your own box)
9. ZoneAlarm (at least 3.7 - 3.5 BLOWS big time)
10. CoolPlayer (gets around those WiMP security holes, plays MP3 and Ogg)
Re:Other fine suggestions. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 12:45 · Score: 0

> WS-FTP for non-com use.

Now that I'm done vomitting, I command you to replace this line with FileZilla, heathen!
Re:Other fine suggestions. by s4f · 2003-10-08 13:45 · Score: 1

Google Toolbar (even if you don't use IE, you should put it on your CD)
Why? Unless you mean to use one of the Google Toolbar clones available for Mozilla. But it doesn't seem like that's what you're saying.
And if you're saying to put it on the CD so you'll have it if you some day might need it. That's doesn't really make sense, since to use it you'll need to be on the net, and once on the net you can install from Google in only a few seconds. Perhaps, I should just stop thinking so much.
Re:Other fine suggestions. by astro-g · 2003-10-08 14:13 · Score: 1

Open Office has export as PDF, so no need for a seperate program.
Dev-C++ if you want to program (GPL, windows)
for instant messenger, Miranda-IM
(http://www.miranda-im.org/, formerlerly on sourceforge) does every messenger network Ive ever heard of.
I too recomend the free version of AVG antivirus by Grisoft
Re:Other fine suggestions. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-14 06:42 · Score: 0

The old abandoned Leech FTP is great as well.

Why Windows? by ENOENT · 2003-10-08 07:57 · Score: 1

Why would you want to install Windows, when you don't want to play any games, don't have any particular software that you need to run, and require only a basic home setup? Forget Windows.

In answer to your question, the basic required software is:

Web Browser (Mozilla or Mozilla Firebird)
Mail client (Evolution, Sylpheed, mutt, whatever)
Minimal text editor (XEmacs)
OpenOffice.org
Productivity software (nethack)

--
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.

googlebar & popfile by aaandre · 2003-10-08 07:59 · Score: 1

Google toolbar bar takes care of pop ups in IE and manages form data.

Popfile is an excellent Bayesian spam filtering solution sitting between your (any) mail client and the POP3 server.

recommendations for your system by Uzik2 · 2003-10-08 08:05 · Score: 1

You didn't say what you were going to use it for!
That makes all the difference.

I recommend:

mozilla.org

The 1.5 version of Mozilla for windows. Don't
use the separated apps, they are still buggy,
and don't even have an install program yet.
Versions previous to 1.4 had a significant
memory leak problem.

OpenOffice.org

If you have to do word processing this is
a great package.

Winamp.com

MP3 player.

I do not recommend Microsoft's movie player
since the license is so draconian. I can't
recommend a good one since the one I have
was proprietary and provided by my video
card manufacturer.

ATI makes a decent video capture card with
movie player, and tv media center.

If you have an internal network and you
don't trust the others on the network
you need a firewall. Otherwise a
separate firewall system is a good investment.
www.Freesco.net provides a simple to build
menu driven package that will run on very
old hardware with no hard disk. This allows
you to reuse that old box for something useful!

Good luck!

--
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it

GoBack by N7DR · 2003-10-08 08:06 · Score: 1

Yes, I know it costs money, but the first time you install something and then wish that you hadn't -- and discover that you can't get rid of the piece of junk that you just installed -- or the first time that you want to recover the version of the Word document that you overwrote half an hour ago -- or in any one of half a dozen similar circumstances, you'll be glad that you installed... GoBack (www.goback.com).

It is absoutely the first program that I install on a new Windows system.

The only downside is that the software has just been bought by Symantec (from Roxio, who bought it from the original developers, WildFile). I just hope that that doesn't mean that it's going to be ruined.

Parent is being INFORMATIVE, NOT FUNNY. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 08:10 · Score: 0

The links are pointed to reason why users should NOT get those software, although it is funny that he tries to make it funny.

Wow, can't believe no one has named this one yet. by Fizzlewhiff · 2003-10-08 08:13 · Score: 1

Every home PC needs a copy of Oracle 9i RAC.

--

'Same speed C but faster'

CrazyBrowser! by psyclone · 2003-10-08 08:15 · Score: 1

well, I dig mozilla and galeon, but for a quick fix I usually install CrazyBrowser. It's just a 'wrapper' for IE that uses tabs and auto-blocks pop-ups. (If you want the pop-up you click on, it'll open in a new tab.) It's only a 700k download.

I don't see how anyone can use IE without it. You can easily send queries to your 4 favorite search engines. Also, it can easily translate with the fish (replaces the useless 'go' button).

End With Emacs by reallocate · 2003-10-08 08:16 · Score: 1

Boy, I'm glad I don't live in your home.

The kids might love it, tho, as soon as their hands got big enough to enter emac's ctrl-alt-spacebar-meta-thumb_up_nose commands.

--
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"

I feel dirty posting this but Oh Well... by q2a · 2003-10-08 08:17 · Score: 1

Oh, I'll blow the dust off my Windows notes and blog;

CygWin. The Linux-like environment for Windows.
Mozilla. Use this for mail, news, and browsing if you like.
Firebird. for FAST browsing.
WS FTP Light. A FREE, FTP client that works great.
Filezilla. which is TRULY free and does sftp as well.
PuTTY. a free SSH client for Windows.
TTSSH. is a much less clunky ssh client than PuTTY.
iXplorer. freeware secure FTP client
VNC hello!? remote controll software.
Tight VNClike the original, only FAST.
GNU-EMacs for Windows. just trust me ;).
Dev-C++a free C++ compiler for those who can't afford VS.
NetHack. as someone here said, you MUST have NetHack installed on everything...
Free-AV.free Anti-Virus software for Windows, (mandatory these days). or
AVG Free edition. another free Anti-Virus software for Windows.
Zonealarm. my favorite Personal Firewall,, really!. or
Kerio. another firewall that some seem to like. or
Sygate. yet another firewall. whatever floats your boat.
Boingo. to see where the closest hotspot is, hehe.
OpenOffice 1.1 the Microsoft Office KILLER :) {really!}
Winamp 2.x for audio/video usage in Windows, stay away from the new one :).
Mark's Adding Machine is much better than the Windows calculator.
SpyBot Search & Destroy The best Ad-ware / Spyware removal tool we've found, "IE is unusable without".
Ad-Aware another spy-ware app "alas poor Windoze."
Trillian a favorite IM, since we're all chatters @ heart. or
GAIM since trillian hogs resources, "bad piggy!".
Gimp image creation/editing. Who needs Photoshop anyway?
EnZip freeware Zip Utility, Stop nagging you WinZip!!
Iview is a great little image viewer. or
Irfanviewone of the best image viewer out there for Windows.
Audacity is a great little sound editor.
Virtual Dub. a great video editor.
cDex gotta rip those cd's for the RIAA!
MAME for games, period. Free. You can buy some ROMs, or *ahem* ask around. and finally
XPantiSPY since XP is E-V-I-L.

And FINALLY, don't trust me! Trust the experts;

Go to the Pricelessware site maintained by the alt.comp.freeware Usenet group.
The

nothing to do with being too cheap by frovingslosh · 2003-10-08 08:26 · Score: 1

... go for AVG Anti-Virus [grisoft.com]....what I install on people's machines when they are low on cash

I use it too, and not only because I'm cheap. I hate the in your face way the name brand virus software grabs hold of your system, screws everything up, and will not let go. I got a free-after-rebate copy of one of them with my notebook purchase this year and made the store take it back, it wasn't worth the sales tax and postage stamp to me, knowing I would never install it on my system anyway. AVG does want to set up a presistant "console", but that can be disabled easily. You can have it on your system without always running and causeing you more problems than it prevents, and still use it to scan a new file when downloaded of scan all or part of your hard drive when you want on your terms.

--
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.

XEmacs as Family PC Text Editor??? by Qbertino · 2003-10-08 08:30 · Score: 1

Whatcha smokin'?

--
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca

Re:XEmacs as Family PC Text Editor??? by ENOENT · 2003-10-08 09:41 · Score: 1

Maybe I should have put a :-) next to the word "minimal".

--
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.

Linux Needs by jimlintott · 2003-10-08 08:33 · Score: 1

I can't advise you on Windows as I rarely use it and then only to play games on. I use Linux Mandrake as my main desktop system. All the software you need will come with the Mandrake Distro. You won't need any extra software.

Have Fun

my list by Down8 · 2003-10-08 08:52 · Score: 1

AVG AntiVirus (free for home use)

Mozilla.org: Suite (browser, mail/news); Firebird (browser); Thunderbird (mail/news) [all free]

OpenOffice.org office suite (free)

Kerio Personal Firewall (free for home use)

WinAMP multimedia (free)

Trillian IM client (AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Y!) [free version available]

AdAware privacy protector (free for home use)

AnalogX random ultilities(many freebies)

There doesn't seem to be a huge lack of free products that ship with most Linux distros, and I don't use it as a general OS enough to point to anything specific, hence most of my list (but not all) is Windows only. Sorry.

-bZj

--
.sig

Try Linux edutainment, and dual boot :) by curri · 2003-10-08 08:57 · Score: 1

Wine is usable, but not very easy to set-up, and *some* programs will run, but not all. You may want to dual boot so they can use the ones that don't work.

Also, keep in mind there are many Linux edutainment packages, most of them not as polished as the commercial ones but pretty good.

Check Tux4Kids.org, the KDE edutainment, GCompris, (google is your friend :)

I like TuxPaint and TuxType a lot. TuxType is the classic game to teach typing (several different variations etc), and TuxPaint is a painting program like KidPix etc; one nice thing about TuxPaint is you can easily add your own stamps (with your picture, or your dog)

The selection is not great, but the games are free, and quite a few of them actually useful.

TTSSH doesn't support SSH protocol v2 by tubaman24 · 2003-10-08 08:57 · Score: 1

So if you want to use the latest protocol, you can't use ttssh.

I'm suprised no-one mentioned GNUPG by 101percent · 2003-10-08 09:03 · Score: 1

You can get The GNU Privacy Guard from www.gnupg.org. It's based on the openpgp standard, which all new PGP releases are also, so it's totally interoperable. It's a part of the GNU project and has clients for many host OS. You can do more with this app than just encrypt mail.

my cheap/free/OSware CD by spamhog · 2003-10-08 09:13 · Score: 2, Informative

I have abt. 500MB of stuff on my pennyless-friend-saver Windows CD. My selection for you is not all from this CD though.

I still use Win9x, and will keep on til forced to upgrade by the Mob. (I also use Debian, of course).

On 9X the key problem is keeping the PC alive and healthy -> use as little MS products as you can.

So, in order:

1)) Use Ranish Partition Manager from a Windows boot floppy to cut up all the partitions you need. Remember to mimic on the Win side a multi-partition scheme as the one on Linux (My values: System 5GB, temp 0.5, swap 0.5, and two data partitions for hot & cold data, + a 5GB extra partition for a mirror of the clean-installed system). Leave Ranish installed on Windows to hack up partitions other than the system one, and to check if the partition table is healthy.

2) Opera or Mozilla for browser, mail, (and with Mozilla also newsreader / HTML editor), so you can use Internet Explorer ONLY FOR WINDOWS UPDATE, THE OCCASIONAL STUPID IE-ONLY SITE, AND NOTHING ELSE. Notice that Opera can also update your Java support.

3) Computer Associates' EZ Armor. Their customer service is not that good, but their sw is excellent, reasonably lightweight, non-intrusive and not very expensive. Do NOT use their firewall.

4) If you can, get an OLDER (before V.3) Zonalarm Pro firewall. Lighter, more stable, enough fine grain selective port enabling. If you can't find it, do use the Armor firewall.

5) X-teq's X-Setup for moving around key data locations (eg, putting all temp files on the temp drive etc etc) and reconfiguring the living daylights out of the irrational and selfdestructive original Windows setup.

6) Open Office is fine and getting better. Sadly, Microsoft's ugly secret formats have not been completely reverse engineered. If you have to use MS Office, see if you can get a legal 2nd hand copy of the '97 version - AFAIK, it was still the most popular with US corporations as of 2002.

7) Multimedia: try to get the old Windows Media Player 6.4 for basic use. I suggest not to touch the more recent versions, which I consider bordering on malware. But do install it, to get all the new dll's - only do not associate it with any filetypes. Also install the latest Quicktime and Real One free players. But for the actual interface, I prefer the older WinAmps (v. 2.x), which is still actively maintained. There may be issues on whether the latest Real EULA allows other sw to use its dll's... find out.

8) Basic CD burning: try by all means BurnFree! It works, stable, lots of tweaks, AFAIK not spyware, although it will explicitly install an "updater" that will later try to install an adware navigation "helper" for IE (not yet available as of last month - bizarre!). It's easy to catch and restrain the updater via ZoneAlarm.

[ Be nice, it's not OS but they give you decent free software hoping to make a buck, so let them "drive" your IE and look at some of their ads, or send them a donation. When I get a job I prolly will. And for that matter, thank generously the sources of good, decent sw you use, OS or not... perhaps not Time Warner Corp. (WinAmp), but u get the idea. ]

9) PDF READER - I avoid Adobe reader like the claps. Yes, get it, it's free and OK but it never shuts up (or down). Get GSview and the Ghostscript libraries for normal use. Leaner, stabler. Only for the nastier of pdf files you'll really need Adobe.

I do not have a 10), but a number of really-nice-to-have's, most free, some OS, or at least cheap and hi-Q shareware, in no particular order:

Picture viewer: IrfanView.

Graphic manipulation: WinGIMP.

Process management: Process Explorer.

Archiver: Ultimate Zip (also, 7-ZIP for the Unixoid formats)

HTML Reader / barebones graphic browser: Off-By-One (fast!!!)

Basic crypto: Blowfish Advanced CS

Instant Messaging: Trillian (multi-network, + IRC too)

Defragmenting (front end): Power Defrag

Linux directory

Re:my cheap/free/OSware CD by HotshotXV · 2003-10-08 09:28 · Score: 1

The only concern with any of your free products (and I do use most of them) is Trillian. What happens to those MSN users using the basic version of Trillian? As far as I know, they will be cut off on the 15th when Microsoft shuts down third-party access... unless you know otherwise. Like it or not, sometimes you have to use some MicroCrap.
Re:my cheap/free/OSware CD by HotshotXV · 2003-10-08 09:30 · Score: 1

You also lost most of my respect that was gained by naming those apps by stating that you run Windows ME, aka the buggiest OS in all existence. You'd be better off running 3.1 than that POS.
Re:my cheap/free/OSware CD by BiggyP · 2003-10-08 10:19 · Score: 1

well, my first suggestion would be TheOpenCD.org, it's a compilation of free(OSS compliant licenses) software for use on win32 systems, it's a little out of date at the moment, but will soon be freshened up a little and shortly afterwards the 2nd edition will apear.

a couple of ammendments to your list, GIMP for win32(GIMPWin), not WinGIMP, the latter will cost you money and is out of date...

compression, not ultimate-zip, if you have to use a winzip clone, just use winzip... otherwise, 7-Zip beats the hell out of it, the last time i used ultimate zip i came up against broken support for some of the unix formats, and i see no reason to install both.

web browsing, the Mozilla suite is a must, no ad banner like opera, massive number of plug-ins and very stable. of course, if you only need the browser there's always K-Meleon, gecko renderer MFC interface.

--
Software Freedom Day!.
Re:my cheap/free/OSware CD by palp · 2003-10-08 11:58 · Score: 1

No, the patch for the free version was released at least a week ago, if not more.

--
-palp

Too cheap isn't really right... by Trillan · 2003-10-08 09:14 · Score: 1

I've run into situations where Norton/Symantec was unable to solve infections, but AVG was. In fact, it's the only time I've ever been infected.

I'm not using the product I paid for because the free product is better.

Pegasus Email by McLuhanesque · 2003-10-08 09:17 · Score: 1

I'm surprised that Pegasus email client hasn't been mentioned, as one of the best freeware email clients... heck, it's one of the best email clients, period - free or not free.

I've also found an FTP server to be useful on a home LAN, especially if one is trying to network older, only-nominally-compatible OSs. The one I've enjoyed using is Fastream Netfile - also free - and very easy to setup, configure and use (with WSFTP as a client, btw.)

Re:Pegasus Email by Wilk4 · 2003-10-08 10:13 · Score: 1

pegasus has my vote too.

As far as as browsers go.. by dave1212 · 2003-10-08 09:22 · Score: 1

All my friends always ask what browser I'm using, since it seems really fast, doesn't freeze, and keeps pop-ups from appearing.. I'm usually running either Safari or Camino.
However, since you're going to be running Linux and Windows, I have just one suggestion, for your choice of browser: Firebird. It's what I tell my Wintel-using friends to use instead of Internet Exploder. Every one of them has thanked me for the info and continues to use it as their browser of choice.

One of the many advantages to this choice would be a unified look of an app between platforms. (that is, if you intend that the family use Linux) The browser would look the same (unless someone decides to skin one of them without doing the other, a likely situation ;)

Compression by C0C0C0 · 2003-10-08 09:22 · Score: 1

Most of my top ten is already posted, but I swear by FilZip for compression software, and SmartFTP for non-commercial file transfer. Both Windows apps.

--
You are totally blocking my view of the wall. - Dogbert

My own picks... by pjwhite · 2003-10-08 09:24 · Score: 1

Windows

Borland C++
P-CAD
WS FTP
Eudora
Opera
Acrobat Reader
Thumbs Plus
Real Player
Tera Term Pro & TTSSH
Fixit Utilities

FreeBSD (or other *nix)

The GIMP
ImageMagick
gnucash
nedit
Opera
elm
setiathome
xscreensaver
mpeg_encode and mpeg_play
xpdf

Couple of good marketing avoidance tools.. by stickyc · 2003-10-08 09:26 · Score: 1

For Bayesian POP filtering - I've found K-9 to be pretty good (I'm an Outlook user, so I've no experience with Eudora or The Bat!'s spam filtering capabilities). It's a proxy-based filter that supports black/whitelisting and adds keywords to the message header that you can then filter out using most basic email program filters. After 3 weeks or so of training, it's down to a 99% accuracy rating and I've had less than 4 false positives in the 6 or so months since (and all of those were "solicited spam").

For web ad/pop-up blocking, I still recommend the no-longer-maintained Proxomitron. A proxy-based filter that screens for banner ads and pop-ups. It's got a very active user base and mailing list.

While I question the value on a laptop, for desktops, I always install the latest version of Motherboard Monitor. It keeps an eye on your system's health - temperature and fans. Again, probably not as useful (or even compatible) for a laptop.

Extension hell... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 09:32 · Score: 0

The problem is that Firebird is under heavy development, and in order to get the same features as in Opera, you have to hunt down the relevant extensions. And that is not easy, since conflicts aren't exactly uncommon, and many extensions are forever left at beta/testing status. With Opera, you just install it and it works, no spending hours downloading extensions.

And the Google toolbar in FB isn't that hot (ie. nothing anyone else can't get in their browser). What about PageRank?

putty has an excellent private key manager by hover · 2003-10-08 09:32 · Score: 1

... called 'pageant'. This is a must when you really ssh a lot. * Typing passwords or passphrases every time? Boring. * Using keys with empty passphrases? Dangerous. The solution is to use an auth agent which asks a passphrase once then allows you to use it until you close the agent or reboot.

Config is King! The FamilyPC I set up for my folks by Qbertino · 2003-10-08 09:32 · Score: 1

Hush Technologies Epia M 10000 Mini ITX System
Flashy silver TFT Display with Sound (Sony or Samsung)
Classic Cherry Keyboard (no Multimedia Crapkeys!)
Logitech Dual Optical Mouse
Linux (Debian Woody R1)
Fluxbox with well configured, crap free right-click menu and 4 to 6 desktops
Kwrite (latest)
KMail (latest + maybe a deluxe Backend: well configured Exim with spamfilter gets mail for all users)
well configured Thunderbird with good theme, radial menu, tab extras + Flash MX Plugin
well configured OpenOffice 1.1 (+ Fonts)
Gimp 1.3
Turboprint (www.turboprint.de)
Gabber
X-Chat
Realplayer
O gle DVD Player
XMMS
Oggripper (www.thekompany.com)
Konsole or well configured Eterm
well configured GKrellm
Kohan:IS (www.transgaming.com)
Frozenbubble
Armagetron or GLTron
Heroes of Might and Magic III or Sid Meyers Alpha Centauri for the hardcore long-night gamers
Accounts for all users with access to the system in each ones favourite style-flavour and 4-6 virtual desktops. Plus half an hour of show and tell for each.
The system also should have ssh2 running for your quick remote help in emergencies.

Note that a proper professional configuration and instruction is worth a hundred times more to a normal user than the latest gadget in soft or hardware!
If your people really mean something to you give them a well configured system!!! And can't stress this enough. This of course is easiyer achieved on a Linux system. Check out the stuff, fiddle with it yourself and when you feel safe do a nice setup for your folks. Tell, show and prove them that they've got the latest and greatest what softwaretechnology has to offer, with reference grade quality usability. Don't forget: Configuration and Setup is King!
The system I buillt kicks any standard WinXP system up and down the street in speed, accessability, safety and ease of use! And exept for Turboprint Deluxe, Heroes and Alpha Centauri all the software is free!

--
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca

Read this post for some good apps! by 101percent · 2003-10-08 09:32 · Score: 1

READ THIS POST

People have recently been asking me what software I use, so I've decided to make a list of the software that I think is "essential" and that I have to install on any system that I use; feel free to discuss. Please keep in mind I'm only focusing on Win32 software here, since this is probably the OS of choice for most forum readers.

I've decided to go through and update this list to reflect my current configuration, and I'm going to include non-Win32 software, but only that which I use on a daily basis. This update should be complete by August 7th.

I intend to add quite a few programs to the list, and some are getting removed.

A sample of programs I'm going to add or expand on list: Subtitle Workshop, mp4ui, LA (lossless audio), ffdshow, AC3Filter, Zoom Player, The Font Thing, XnView, GhostScript/GhostView, DiscJuggler, COM Explorer, ActiveX Explorer, ZTree, BHODemon, VSigGen, PerfectDisc, PowerBASIC 7, 7-Zip, QuickPar, SFV Checker, vile, Borland CodeWright, Visual SlickEdit, Eset NOD32 Antivirus, WinSCP, AvantBrowser, lftp, NFTP, NcFTP, Sam Spade, Xnews, Mulberry, PuTTY, OpenChat/32, C-Kermit, Kermit-95, Open DCL, foobar2000, bfilter, Zsh, wget, ScrollZ, OpenSSH, Seminole httpd, and more.

I'm going to add a small section for NeXTSTEP and OpenStep software as well, since I'm a daily user of NeXT workstation equipment.

Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall by Mad+Man · 2003-10-08 09:32 · Score: 1

I've read several recommendations for firewall software, such as Zone Alarm and Sygate.

Since the original poster stated that this would be a Windows XP/Mandrake PC, the firewall built into Windows XP should be fine.

GNUWinII by villain170 · 2003-10-08 09:43 · Score: 1

Check here.

--

I am over here... now I am back over here!

Why I don't trust ZoneAlarm by CrystalFalcon · 2003-10-08 09:44 · Score: 1

ZoneAlarm is actually a lot worse than being hard to configure, or sometimes botching up the network layers.

It corrupts VALID traffic, too. As in changing bits that are supposed to get through unchanged. Just a year ago, I would have dismissed this as FUD. However, I was a heavy P2P user at one time and had ZA'd my box. 75% of all downloads came home corrupt and I was tearing my hair, did I really have this bad codecs (almost none of the movies worked) or is there just so much junk out there?

I googled around a bit and found a tip to remove ZA. Not just disable it, but remove it. I did. Lo and behold, not a corrupt download since.

Anecdotal? Absolutely. Enough for me not to trust ZA on my network ever again? Just as absolutely. This time it was replaceable downloads I didn't care the world for, the next time it may be me shuffling my code archive to and from a backup server while replacing a hard drive.

This just adds to other small annoyances I've had with ZA (like killing my bandwidth intermittently), but not being able to trust it to keep my data intact was an instant GTFOMS for that piece of software.

If Zone Labs had acked the troubles, visibly devoted effort to resolving them, explained the causes, and worked with their customer base to SOLVE these damn problems, then it may be a different story. Now they're just pretending like it's a happy happy world with shiny happy people, which makes them not trustworthy to me.

(if a rep from Zone is reading this, feel free to contact me)

Porn Viewing? by spamhog · 2003-10-08 09:47 · Score: 1

Right, a home machine has to be preconfigured for for porn viewing!

Let's parents and kids fight over porn instead of boring issues like global warming or terrorism!

There's an open source application that is just perfect for that: porngrab for Windows.

There must be some connection with Lesbian Linux, but I do not know what it is.

http://kohlbeck.xs4all.nl/pgrab/

Crazy Browser! by psyclone · 2003-10-08 09:47 · Score: 1

i dig galeon and mozilla, but for a simple IE wrapper, Crazy Browser rocks. It's tabbed by default and auto-blocks pop-ups. Quickly add 4 search engines to the 'address' bar and easily translate with the fish. Only a 700k download too.

I don't know how anyone can use IE without it.

I would recommend by NotoriousBob · 2003-10-08 09:52 · Score: 1

That to eliminate the need of a firewall and av software(will free up resources) you only visit /. endorced pr0n sites.

--

RRS, aka The Notorious BOB
www.notoriousbob.co.nr

This FTP! by Snaller · 2003-10-08 09:52 · Score: 1

Arg, not WS- its crap - go for FileZilla instead - its also one of the very few Windows programs which has the decency to decide where to store its prefs! When it starts the first time it asks you if you want the config stored in the registry or in the local directory (as an xml file) - every program should do this!

--
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating

Re:good luck with zonealarm by Wilk4 · 2003-10-08 09:57 · Score: 1

I've had good luck with zonealarm too, with no problems under win98.

do any of the other firewalls match it on the security tests like those at grc.com?

and have protection against things (spyware, etc) phoning home?

Stuff I'm looking for / considering by WillAdams · 2003-10-08 10:04 · Score: 1

I'm setting up a Fujitsu Pen Slate which I just picked up now, and am loading software.... Some things are a bit skewed to the pen / graphic design angle, but....

1 - PDFS - XPDF / Adobe Acrobat Reader (or get Approval (good for filling out forms / annotations) for free from the IRS) Annotating .pdfs w/ the pen is a _lot_ easier / nicer than using a mouse / keyboard

2 - GNUCash (or Quicken) - I'd like an app small / fast enough to use at point of purchse though...

3 - Palm Desktop (though if Berkely Systems' StarDate works w/ the HWR on my Fujitsu Pen Slate I'm gonna use that ;) I'm finally retiring my Newton if the next works out:

4 - Blade Software's NotateIt (general purpose note-taking software)

5 - LyX (the HWR actually works w/ the QT version compiled for Windows ;) I think this could handle a family's needs to produce printed documents though...

6 - TeX / GhostScript - needed for above. Dirk Stuve's WinTeXShell actually works with / supports HWR / Pen Services ;)

7 - Fractal Design Expression (need to look into the new Expression 3.0 though), FutureWave SmartSketch, and Macromedia FreeHand---did I mention I do graphic design? I guess a family would want Broderbund PrintShop or somehting like to that.

8 - Writer's ToolKit - since I got my Cube, I've felt that any computer which doesn't come w/ a dictionary is barbaric / uncivilized. WordWeb / Net are free though.

9 - Digital Camera software - suggestions? I'd like to get a camera and software for editing / managing photos---is there an iPhoto clone for Windows? I'd like to avoid Adobe PhotoShop/Deluxe/Elements though, don't much care for Adobe's idea of UI of late.

10 - CD Burner / Music / MP3 - the CD-RW I got came w/ Nero---hopefully this will work until Apple has iTunes for Windows available.

William

--
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.

SourceForge.net by ErrorBase · 2003-10-08 10:19 · Score: 1

You should defenately look for stuff at sourceforge there is a lot of good software there

Audacity.sf.net (to edit wav/mp3/ogg etc)
gaim.sf.net (like trillian/msn/aim/icq and irc)
CDex.sf.net (cd ripper)
Tuxpaint.sf.net (the little bug loves it)
and more games
( http://gaming.foundries.sourceforge.net/ )

Browse away; you'll love it.

hmmm by ShadowRage · 2003-10-08 10:23 · Score: 1

for graphics in linux, I suggest gimp, gpaint, and imagemagick.

for sound, rezound, XmmS (somewhat), RhythmBox

for movies, Mplayer, ogle

for games, Q3A, frozen bubble, some emulators (as long as you own the actual games)

for chat, Xchat, gaim (both win 32 and linux)

so yeah.

Don't forget Frozen Bubble... by Julz · 2003-10-08 10:26 · Score: 1

This can keep kids and adults happy for hours.

--
When shit hits the fan get some of these https://youtu.be/pY-GncsZ-UE

Dev-C++ by yerricde · 2003-10-08 10:27 · Score: 1

Why bother with Dev-C++ when you can get gcc and the rest of the standard unix developer tools as part of cygwin?

Because Dev-C++ provides a GUI around GCC.

--
Will I retire or break 10K?

Re:Do you want to buy software or feed your childr by veritron · 2003-10-08 10:31 · Score: 1

FYI - It's called "backyard baseball" It's p.o.s. kiddy software that features no real players, lots of cartoony graphics, and shitty, shitty gameplay. It's like negative fun. You'll never buy another game made by that company ever again (I didn't, little brother got it as a christmas gift when he was 9)

Lost me when they lost local home pages by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:31 · Score: 0

I still use it, but lost enthusiasm when they got rid of local home pages (specific to a window). I usually have a number of default windows open, and it was great to go to a specific page for each (not necessarily the site home page) with a single click. I know there are other ways to do it, but this was incredibly easy-hardly any setup. When they said most people were too stupid to figure it out, I realized they wanted to be an IE clone.

Re: bah, rubbish! by modme2 · 2003-10-08 10:33 · Score: 1

i use firebird daily on both windows and linux and i have never had one single problem with it, not even a crash in months. dont listen to this guy!

i also use thunderbird on both platforms, no problems yet.. but i havent used it as extensively as firebird

download it and try for yourself.

oo and mozilla by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:35 · Score: 0

Well...
OpenOffice and Mozilla will take care of cross-platform officework and internet use. Two down, eight to go.
JJ

ZoneAlarm, OpenOffice, AVG, Opera by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:40 · Score: 0

You could just not install XP at all (joking...everybody wants to play games).

Mandrake seems to have everything I need right out of the box.

For Windows, my list includes
AVG,
ZoneAlarm
Open Office
Netscape 4.76
Opera
WinAmp

If they've got a decent internet connection I would also recommend dropping a few of the dollars saved on a hardware firewall...

my list by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:48 · Score: 0

All the following are free and have proven themselves to me.

The Literary Machine. Awesome freeware version that allows you to store, organize, recall any tidbit of information that is lying around in a very well thought out and idea provoking way. The more you use this the more you will appreciate how well thought out and how flexible this program is. Not easy to learn initially but well worth your time.

Google toolbar 2.0 version. Popup blocker, autofill address, email, credit card info, highlighting feature.

Fprot virus scanner. It is free and it is constantly updated. I use the dos version on my windows ME but it should work on XP as well.

Zonealarm, a good free firewall program.

Metapad editor to replace your notepad.

Autorefresh. Automatically refreshes web pages at a set interval.

Spybot. Spyware cleaner. Also Ad-aware as an complement.

FreeRam XP pro to free your ram.

Cablenut to set your computer to maximize the speed at which it connects to broadband internet.

Realone player to handle streaming media.

Your Problem... by Cyno01 · 2003-10-08 10:49 · Score: 1

When you start it for the fisrt time, or after it crashes, your presented with a little selection box, start with no pages, start wiht home page etc. Above that you have the option of either "Windows on Desktop", meaning it behaves like most things, multiple windows appear in the bar at the botttom of your screen, but you can still use tabs. The second option "Windows in Opera" is exactly that, if you open a link in a new window, or if you get a pop-up(if you have that enabled for some reason) it'll appear as a window within Opera and not add a tab to your windows taskbar.

--
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."

Ummm....like you have a choice by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 10:50 · Score: 0

1) The PC comes w/ M$ Windows preloaded.
2) EndNote (if anyone knows of a z39.50 compliant bibliographic manager that runs in OOO let someone know!)
3) Stedman's spell check add-on. For those of us who work in the health care arena, it matters.
4) Outlook. Yeah, I know. But it works! Now if only it could cooperate with Palm. You have to admit the activesync w/ PPCs is pretty smooth.

That aside, my kid's going to grow up on Red Hat.

Eudora for e-mail. by BigBlockMopar · 2003-10-08 10:58 · Score: 1

The mail program works well, as does the newsreader. The browser displays just about every page out there quite nicely. Multiple user support is good and it is quite easy to lock it down/configure it as needed, a very important feature for a family application (at least for some).

For sure Mozilla as the browser; even if you don't care about IE's erosion of HTML and HTTP standards, you should care about IE's poor security.

But for e-mail, I like Eudora. I really like Eudora. It handles dozens of identities, has good filters, seems to be pretty robust. And it's got a great spell-checker, a Mood Watch system which adds little chili peppers and warns you if you've accidentally mistyped fsck. And Eudora is very sarcastic. (Free version: "If you register, we'll erect a giant statue of you at our corporate headquarters*. *-offer void on the planet Earth.") As with all mail clients, make sure that HTML e-mail viewing is turned off to avoid spammers using bugs on you.

Bugs? [img src="http://www.spammer.com/image.jpg?recipient=yo uremail@address.com"]

Other Windows essentials: Kazaa Lite, ThumbsPlus, PuTTY (SSH/Telnet client), WinAMP 2 with Ogg plug-in.

--
Fire and Meat. Yummy.

The *REAL* top ten pieces of software by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 11:02 · Score: 0

The *REAL* top ten

1. Kazaa lite
2. DC++
3. Bit Torrent
4. DivX codecs
5. DVD2Avi
6. Smartripper
7. Nandub
8. Vobsub
9. Cdex
10. WinISO or related

Not to mention a super-fast internet connection

Whatabout WinSCP? by Xyverz · 2003-10-08 11:15 · Score: 0

I've got FTP turned off on my webserver. PuTTY's SCP program is a bit clunky, so I use WinSCP when I'm in Windows. And I have my family and friends who also use my server using it. It's great, and free:

http://winscp.sourceforge.net/eng/

This little app kicks so much ass it's not funny! ;)

RE: Zone Alarm works! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 11:17 · Score: 0

No one will ever read this, but I feel it must be in the archive.

The above posters complain about Zone Alarm. I have been using it, and promoting it, for different machines for over 3 years. It never crashes, needs reinstalling, "slows down downloads" or the like. Yes, I understand about the documentation. Perhaps not using Win XP could help. Or maybe use an older version of ZA. Or maybe don't use the version with all the "extra" security. I have DSL, know about my dlls and processes, I can edit my registries; I understand Windows -- and nothing makes me feel better about using Windows than having Zone Alarm loaded. People thank me after they start finding out about all the things Zone Alarm (or any good firewall) *successfully* protects against and how simple and painless it is to use.

So many posts about bad experiences, and so few good for Zone Alarm. I had to put something in for the archive.

If you want something really small and simple ... by DVega · 2003-10-08 11:22 · Score: 1

... try foobar2000

--
MOD THE CHILD UP!

Software to salvage "obsolete" company PCs by ScottSpeaks! · 2003-10-08 11:25 · Score: 1

Last year my (now former) employer let me take all the 586/200's they were going to throw out and sell them to employees (mostly non-technical folks), with the proceeds going to charity, as long as all I spent on them was my time. The only commercial software I could include was the Win95 licences we'd bought with them, so the rest had to be free(beer). The software I installed was:

office apps: OpenOffice.org
database: Treepad
web/mail: Netscape 6 (they were familiar with the Netscape name already, otherwise it would've been Mozilla)
plug-ins: Flash, Java, Acrobat, RealPlayer, QuickTime
firewall: ZoneAlarm
antivirus: AntiVir
audio: WinAmp
unzip: TommCom
games: the ones bundled with Windows
pop-ups: AnalogX Pow!
time: AnalogX Atomic TimeSynch
graphics: I wanted to include a paint program, but (IMHO) the GIMP's interface is too bizarre for mundanes and no other free apps looked worthwhile. I'd suggest Jasc PaintShop as a high-value option for those who actually have a budget.

Quintessential... by rinks · 2003-10-08 11:27 · Score: 1

is a great free media player, much better than the horrible winamp3. It's got good support, tons of downloadable plugins and skins, and runs quicker than musicmatch. And, of course, its free. It doesn't burn CD's, but whatev. I've looked at every media player out there, and this is my favorite. For antivirus, AVS like everyone says. RegScrub XP is a nice reg cleaner thats free and easy to use. Firebird for browser and mail. Steel Panthers for the best wargame ever- FREE!

--
My good looks paid for that pool, and my talent filled it with water.

Re: bah, rubbish! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 11:31 · Score: 0

The point is that it's unfinished software and not supposed to be used unless you know what you are getting into. You are obviously a somewhat advanced user, so the text wasn't aimed at you.

My favorites (for windows) by knigitz · 2003-10-08 11:41 · Score: 1

1. MyIE2 [Tabbed browsing, popup filtering, plugins.] 2. Power Archiver [Nagware like Winzip, but about 30 different formats to choose from. Has a few different encryption types and a bunch of other nice features. You can extract via context menu with no nagscreen (Winzip nags doing that)] 3. mIRC [Very popular IRC client.] 4. Trillian [I like it more than other Instant Messaging clients.] 5. Winamp 2.x [3.x is too bloated for me] 6. Outlook Express [included with windows.]

Re:Do you want to buy software or feed your childr by bhtooefr · 2003-10-08 11:44 · Score: 1

I agree with you on most points. However, I'd say StarOffice 7 instead of OO.o - considering that if there are K-12 or college students in the house, it's free, that's a MUCH better idea, considering how much faster SO7 is. Nero? It's Easy CD Creator that comes with most. Mine came with a no-name program (even though it said on the site, on the box, and in the quick start guide that it came with Nero), so I DID get Nero. Backyard Baseball is fine - my school is using an old copy every now and then. You don't NEED the latest and greatest. I do agree on GTA, but think of how many kids play GTA:VC.

10 by Unregistered · 2003-10-08 11:45 · Score: 1

LINUX / WINDOWS
XMMS / WinAMP
MozillaFirebird / MozillaFirebird
OO.org / OO.org
Sylpheed-claws / MozillaThunderbird (unless a win32 port of sylpheed exists)
Gaim / Gaim-win32
xcdroast/arson (depending on pereference) / nero
N/A / Spybot Search and Destroy

And i don't know about virus protection. Don't open attachments and use a firewall for starters. Maybe shell out for Norton unless there are any good free ones

My hands-down favorite by willconsult4food · 2003-10-08 11:45 · Score: 1

I used to be a huge fan of the Google toolbar for IE, until I found Dave's Quick Search Deskbar.

It's the single most useful utiltity that I start up at boot time, other than AV and firewall software.

--
Dull tools are useless. Sharp tools are dangerous. Never use the sharp end as the handle.

Dev-C++ by Elfan · 2003-10-08 11:47 · Score: 1

Come on guys, you can't survivie without a compiler.

It has probably been said before... by kavau · 2003-10-08 11:52 · Score: 1

but if you get the Mandrake CDs (or any other major Linux distro for that matter), you will have pretty much all the software you need and then some. Plus, if you don't install Windows you won't need a virus checker...

Other Free Windows Tools/Apps by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 11:53 · Score: 0

Dtemp: Hard Drive Temp Monitor
http://private.peterlink.ru/tochinov/

Windows Uptime: Great tool for monitoring uptime, downtime, idletime, reboots, crashs, etc.
http://www.rundegren.com/software/windowsupt ime/

Dev-PHP IDE: A Lite and Fast IDE for web programming (HTML, PHP, MySQL, etc.), programmed in Delphi.
http://devphp.sourceforge.net/

KeyNote: Tabbed notebook with RichText editor, multi-level notes and strong encryption.
http://www.tranglos.com/free/index.ht ml

PhoneDeck: Flexible, lightweight addressbook with phone dialer.
http://www.tranglos.com/free/index.html

Adobe Acrobat Reader: PDF Reader
http://www.adobe.com/

Editpad Lite: Powerful, Versatile and Convenient Windows Text Editor.
http://www.editpadlite.com/

nnCron LITE: Windows clone of the well-known UNIX scheduler Cron.
http://www.nncron.ru/

NetTime: NTP/SNTP time synchronization client.
http://nettime.sourceforge.net/

PGP by Meehowski · 2003-10-08 11:55 · Score: 1

A must have.........PGP free.for encryption.........be well.......

--
Mike Meehowski

XP Apps by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 11:58 · Score: 0

Many of the apps I use aren't free, but they are all worth it:

Blackbox For Windows - A great replacement shell
Opera - Browsing and E-Mail
Directory Opus - Excellent file management
AllSnap - Make windows snap, after trying this you'll never go back
Media Player Classic - Great player without any extra garbage
CD-EX - Free CD ripper
WarrenView - Direct3D Image viewer
Sequoia View - Drive usage program, must try it to understand it's greatness
Nero Burning ROM - CD Burning software
Virtual Daemon Tools - CD Emulation

For your perusal, 10+ software necessities by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 12:01 · Score: 0

Software EVERY PC needs?
I think most of the other replies answered that.
Here, have some oft-used software you may find interesting, but may not use on EVERY PC.

ArsClip [http://jackass.arsware.org/] I find it invaluable as I cut and paste a lot. This'll keep a record. And it doesn't exist outside of its directory, its totally self contained. One thing I applaud. OSS.
RunIT [http://www.magister-lex.at/RUNit/] A launchpad. However much I love desktop shortcuts, or the quicklaunch, I miss right clicking on the desktop and getting a menu. This'll solve that problem. Drag/drop your programs into the configuration dialog box, and you're good to go. Freeware.
FreeShade [http://www.hmmn.org/FreeShade/] Double click the title bar, and roll up the window, shade mode. You can also choose a window to be "always on top." Freeware.
MCL [http://www.mlin.net/MCL.shtml] A command line utility, that is always on top. Instead of hitting windowkey-R, this'll stay on top, when you want to quickly run a command from the command line. Freeware.
quickzip [http://quickzip.org/] The only unzipping utility I use. Free. Doesn't handle .cab files well, but I find that a minor issue. I used to use and endorse Power Archiver, but since version 8, it turned shareware. I have and still use version 6, freeware.
XP-Antispy [http://www.xp-antispy.org/] Disable those pesky windows options, that dial home or uniquely identify your media player.
Media Player Classic [http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/] Great media player. Resembles windows media player 6.4. Uses plugins, so if quicktime is installed, or Real, MPC will be able to play that content. OSS.
VirtualDub [http://virtualdub.org/] for if you ever wanted to edit a video, or you were having problem playing a video. Plays most videos even if you don't have the codec. Can be a lifesaver. OSS.
KEdit [http://www.xtort.net/xtort/other.php]
EditPadLit e [http://editpadlite.com/]
The above 2 are small text editors, for replacing notepad, if you so desire.
OmniPad [http://godfather.arsware.org/OmniPad/] A nice text editor with a slew of features. I haven't even gone through them all yet.
SynEdit [http://synedit.sourceforge.net/] Another real nice text editor, but even more. A code editor, syntax highlighting. OSS.
Stinger [http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/]
Antidote[http:/ /www.vintage-solutions.com/English/ Antivirus/Super/index.html]
The above two are standalone virus checkers. They don't offer run time protection, but if you feel you are infected, these 2 can run and check to see if you are. No cleanup, but you could do that on your own. Offered free of charge.
AntiVir [http://free-av.com/] The free virus program I recommend is this. I read that it can detect more viruses than AVG. And it is offered free of charge.
Spybot S&D [http://www.safer-networking.org/] Find and kill those parasites, spyware, adware, and infections on your PC. This and AdAware, both together is highly recommended.
MailWasher [http://mailwasher.net/] to check your email before downloading it. That way, you receive just the headers, and can filter out the spam. Current release version allows checking only one account.
Popcorn [http://www.ultrafunk.com/products/popcorn/] After you filter out the spam, if there are one or two that you find questionable, if they are spam or not, you can view with popcorn. Its a small email client that reads your email off the server. It does not download to your computer. Also, it does not render HTML. It will show you the code, if there is any, as if you are "viewing the source" of the email. Good for certain spam that include webbugs.
Xchat [http://xchat.org/] The best IRC client thats out there. OSS.
Proxomitron [http://www.proxomitron.info/] The best popup blocker I've ever used. Disables anything you care, reads html before its executed and strips it out before its sent to the browser. Get rid of web bugs, javascript, flash, meta refreshers, you name it. If its

Zone Alarm by Pharmboy · 2003-10-08 12:01 · Score: 1

I searched and saw no mention of Zone Alarm. This has got to the best free firewall out there for Windows boxes. The pro edition costs $50 but the free version does everything you would want for home use. It has program control, including letting you allow the app to be a client or server, and lets you differentiate "Internet" from "Trusted" network (home network).

I use Nortons security checker web program to test my box with Zone Alarm. (it comes with System Works or probably free anyway, its a web app designed to sell you their firewall products). It passed completely. Its a great 99.9% solution, with free updates.

I am assuming you are on broadband, so you should install this before you install anything else (except AV, of course).

Linux has its own firewall that is adequate, and LOKKIT to manage it. Its not as full featured, but it works.

www.zonelabs.com or from download.com

--
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!

Other files to have handy..... by sfm · 2003-10-08 12:02 · Score: 1

A must have program for working under windows is "V" (found at www.fileviewer.com). As a replacement for windows explorer, it can't be beat. Also allows very selective disk searches for files or text, and even views zipped files. Aptly described as a windows version of Vernon Buerg's "List" program for DOS.

Winamp is also on this list, along with Polyview (shareware jpg/gif viewer). Rounding out the top-5 are Winzip and my personal preference, Vim.

-- At least my $0.02

How about an IDE . . . by elcheesmo · 2003-10-08 12:05 · Score: 1

You can't go wrong with Eclipse. Of course it only supports Java out of the box, and real men naturally use vi. But it still kicks ass for when you need to throw together a Java app.

Opera Rocks by Nuttles · 2003-10-08 12:09 · Score: 1

Opera Rocks

Page loading is much faster

there are keyboards for virtually everything

it is standards compliant

it has cool features usually before other browsers have them (ie Mouse gestures, popup supressor)

it is ultra customizable

I can go on, but I think you get the picture

Nuttles
Christian and proud of it!!!

Sounds like you got gypped by yerricde · 2003-10-08 12:12 · Score: 1

considering how much faster SO7 is.

Really? Isn't Sun's StarOffice 7 suite the commercial distribution of OOo 1.1? What makes SO7 so much faster? If "startup time", then try making OOo load on startup (a la Mozilla).

Nero? It's Easy CD Creator that comes with most [CD recorders].

My CD recorder came with Roxio's Easy CD Creator as well. What does Nero do that Easy CD Creator doesn't, other than burn specific formats (such as .nrg) that are popular among warez traders?

Mine came with a no-name program

I'd imagine that the absolute cheapest way to go for a CD recorder manufacturer would be a VB shell around mkisofs (for data CDs), sox (for audio CDs), and cdrecord.

(even though it said on the site, on the box, and in the quick start guide that it came with Nero)

Did you take this up with the manufacturer?

--
Will I retire or break 10K?

Re:Sounds like you got gypped by bhtooefr · 2003-10-09 09:55 · Score: 1

Read the drive-by review of SO7 (a link is in a story on GNOME-OFFICE 1.0) It DOES work faster on the same system. And, yes, I DO (or did - before I switched to SO7) make OOo load on startup already. Nero can make copies of more CDs than Easy CD Creator can - Roxio got paid to block copying of some CDs. No, I didn't bother complaining, because it was a $30 CD burner (I didn't exactly expect much), and I found a serial for Nero pretty quickly.

Millions of users *can't* be wrong... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 12:31 · Score: 0

...let Earthstation 5 be the first software you install.
It's great for downloads, entertainment, and, hey, it even does disk management for you!

VMWare by Coppit · 2003-10-08 12:32 · Score: 1

Ditch the dual-boot stuff. Get VMWare for Windows and 1GB of memory, and run *both* operating systems at the same time.

Add in VNC and a virtual desktop manager and you can have your X session running full screen on a separate desktop, just a hotkey away. (I found running X to be fussy... Plus VNC keeps your desktop state when you suspend your VMWare client OS.)

If You Want Everything "FREE"... by Illbay · 2003-10-08 12:44 · Score: 1

...Make sure you download KaZaa before anything else.

--
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.

SpaceMonger by ecarlson · 2003-10-08 12:46 · Score: 1

You've got to have SpaceMonger.

It's free and you got to try it to see how useful it is. It gives you a graphical representation of what's on your hard drive. It's one of the primary utilities in my Windows toolkit. I list some more on my web site, many of which others have listed here.

--
- Eric, InvisibleRobot.com

My top ten by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 12:50 · Score: 0

Just glancing at my Menu in KDE (mandrake 9.1) showing the ten top used programs --

1) K3B - Cd burning program - with lots of nice features and a nice interface but still a few rough edges.

2) Gimp-1.3.x - The latest developer release of the gimp... This is a serious improvement over the stable series & is stable enough for me to get some serious Grfx work done.

3) Tux Racer - Hey I wouldn't have mentioned it but it is there - every once in a while you need a good diversion.

4) Kate - KDE programmers text editor. I guess you can tell I do a little Coding. If you are not a programmer I suggest Gnucash for handling your finances.

5) Quanta Plus - Nice webpage creating program.
If you are not a coder I would suggest Scribus for your DTP needs (The 1.1 series is slow but works a lot better than 1.0 on Mandrake 9.1)

6) KDevelop - Is a picture forming here. If you are not a coder and have a dv-recorder I would reccomend Kino - a video editing app... If you need more power there is Cinelerra or Main Actor.

7) KWord - I like Koffice -- If you need MS Office compatability (I don't) OpenOffice 1.1 is preferable.

8) Email - Kmail or evolution

9) Web - Konqueror or (Mozilla/Firebird)

10) ftp - gftp or maybe another game - I like Neverwinter nights

Hello? Slashdotters? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 12:53 · Score: 0

What is this world coming to when I see people recommending such atrocities as WS FTP (toilet) and ZoneAlarm (suitable only for the self-loathing)?

Ad Muncher by Herr_Nightingale · 2003-10-08 12:56 · Score: 1

I totally forgot what kinda list this is, so I'm listing my favourite things. I doubt that most people ever need VirtualDub, but it sure is handy. But even more essential: a real web browser! Try Firebird (free) or Opera (speedy).
If you're running Windows you're doubly in luck, because Ad Muncher is the best thing going. I can't even force myself to internet on my Linux install anymore after installing this little gem. For $15 it's the best deal in the world. I'm serious, it even makes IE almost tolerable unless you're a tabs fiend.

My list:
1 Ad Muncher probably deserves all five spots, but gets the first one instead
2 Firebird. Best free app extant.
3 Any text editor. I like UltraEdit (except for hexediting), but OmniEdit's free and has syntax highlighting and has a lot of cool features
4 Nero Burning ROM kicks much ass.
5 VirtualDub is possibly the coolest encoding tool I've got, even though I use Vegas for sequencing my video. Fast, solid, with some nice filters.

DIShonourable mention goes to ZoneAlarm for diddling more machines than I can count.

Not Mandrake... by wicka_wicka · 2003-10-08 13:00 · Score: 1

You'll need a hammer, which you'll use to destroy the computer after using Mandrake...

--
hi

Free is the word by nomad63 · 2003-10-08 13:05 · Score: 1

My list would consist free versions of all of the titles below (some are free version only anyways) 1) ZoneAlarm firewall 2) AVG antivirus 3) Adaware spyware defense 4) Winamp 3.0 for music 5) IrfanView for image viewer and simple manipulation 6) mozilla browser/email (also opera free version as a backup) right off the top of my head none of these should cost a penny if right versions chosen

--

__________
The more I know people, the more I love animals

Top List of Free Programs by Air+Elemental · 2003-10-08 13:05 · Score: 1

I use these programs on my computer (Windows XP Home) and find them to perform just as well or better than commercial apps.

OpenOffice.org (www.openoffice.org) - Office Suite
AVG Antivirus (www.grisoft.com) - Antivirus
Mozilla (www.mozilla.org) - Web Browser, Mailreader, Newsreader, IRC
ZoneAlarm (www.zonelabs.com) - Firewall
GIMP for Windows (www.gimp.org) - Image Editor

--
"When Psycho meets Cyclone" -- M:TG Air Elemental card

Free files on my "Essential CD" by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 13:10 · Score: 0

These are the files I keep on my "Esential CDs" that I bring around to help out other non-techs (Windows users) people. (Of course because they are financially broke after paying $200 for their Operating System, they want everything else to be free.) ;-) Anti-Virus:AVG Anti-Virus 6.0 Office Suite: (Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Slideshows, etc.) Open Office 1.1 CD/DVD data/audio Burner: (and doubles as a CD image creator .ISO and .CUE) BurnAtOnce 0.99a CD/DVD image loader/emulator (perfect for people who often misplace their CDs): (loads .ISO, .CUE, .CCD, .CDI etc. files without burning them) DAEMON Tools 3.41 MultiMedia Player (Mpeg, Mp3, AVI, etc.) Winamp Classic 2.91 or for audio only Foobar 2000 0.7 Zip Extractor: Ultimate Zip or 7 Zip 3.11 Download Accelerator: Star Downloader v1.42 Internet Browser: (other than IE) Mozilla 1.4 or Opera 6.20 System Statistics: (Motherboard, Memory, BIOS, Video, Software info, etc) AIDA32 3.80 E-mail (other than Outlook Express) Thunderbird 0.2 or Pegasus Mail 4.12 Spyware/Adware killer Ad-aware 6 or Spybot Search & Destroy 1.2 Pop-up Killer/Browser Enhancer (for IE) Google Toolbar 2.0.102 PDF document reader. Adobe Acrobat 6.0 FTP program (other than IE and the command line FTP) Winsock FTP LE 5.08 or FileZilla 2.2.1 Internet Chat Programs (other than Windows Messenger) Gaim 0.70 or Trillian Basic 0.74E Firewall Software: ZoneAlarm 3.7.211 or if you have Highspeed Internet, a spare 200mhz PC, and two network cards laying around... ClarkConnect 2.0 CD Ripper / MP3 Creator CDex 1.51 Graphics Editor (other than Paint) The Gimp Graphics viewer (other than Windows Picture and Fax Viewer) InfanView 3.85 Audio Editor (WAV, MP3, etc.) Audacity 1.1.3 News Reader (Other than Outlook Express) Forte Free Agent 1.93 I am not going to list geek tools like Web and SQL Servers, SSH, encryption, compilers etc. Because this is supposed to be a list for 'typical family PC' So tell what I am missing, because I thought it was pretty complete. :-) It has taken me a couple years to come up with this list and now you /.ers get to give me your input. Does anyone know of a good Quicken like program for windows that is freeware?

Re: You MUST have NetHack installed on everything. by Kris_J · 2003-10-08 13:21 · Score: 1

Is UMoria close enough? That was the fourth thing I installed on my PS2 Linux kit after the D.Net client, VNC and Mozilla Firebird. One program I recommend for the Windows side: Proxomitron -- the best free filtering personal proxy on the planet. "You mean the Internet has ads?" Also, I recommend the 7.zip compression package (www.7-zip.org).

Codecs by jsares · 2003-10-08 13:29 · Score: 1

I didn't see anyone else mention codecs which are vital if you want to playback video. Instead of installing each by hand or using Nemo Codec Pack try ffdshow. It's based on the libavcodec used in mplayer and lets you playback just about everything.

Re:informative discussion by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 13:36 · Score: 0

what a cool thread. very informative... thanks /.rs

openoffice is NOT openoffice.org by oo_waratah · 2003-10-08 13:42 · Score: 1

Openoffice.org must have the trailing .org because openoffice was already used by someone else

My "must have" util Cds by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 13:57 · Score: 1, Informative

"I'm buying a new mid-grade laptop computer, which I plan to dual-boot between Windows XP Home and Mandrake 9.x. Before its arrival in a few weeks I'm trying to think of what 'essential' software I'll need to make a usable home system. In general I'd like to spend as little money as possible (free is good). As far as my needs, think 'typical family PC' without an emphasis on gaming. I know I can get something like Open Office for word processing, presentation, etc. needs, but is there such a good thing as a good free virus checker? A good free email client? A handy web browser? What would you consider the top 10 (or so) pieces of software for a new home system, bearing in mind that I need software for both the Windows and Linux side of things?""

These are the files I keep on my "Esential CDs" that I bring around to help out other non-techs (Windows users) people. (Of course because they are financially broke after paying $200 for their Operating System, they want everything else to be free.) ;-)

Anti-Virus: The best free antivirus program I have found AVG Anti-Virus 6.0

Office Suite: (Word Processing, SpreadsThe quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox jumped off the edge. The quick brown fox ran off with all his toysheet, Slideshows, etc.)
Open Office 1.1

CD/DVD data/audio Burner: (and doubles as a CD image creator .ISO and .CUE)
BurnAtOnce 0.99a

CD/DVD image loader/emulator (perfect for people who often misplace their CDs): (loads .ISO, .CUE, .CCD, .CDI etc. files without burning them)
DAEMON Tools 3.41

MultiMedia Player (Mpeg, Mp3, AVI, etc.)Winamp Classic 2.91

or for audio only Foobar 2000 0.7

Zip Extractor:Ultimate Zip or7 Zip 3.11

Download Accelerator:Star Downloader v1.42

Internet Browser: (other than IE) Mozilla 1.4 or Opera 6.20

System Statistics: (Motherboard, Memory, BIOS, Video, Software info, etc)AIDA32 3.80

E-mail (other than Outlook Express)Thunderbird 0.2 or Pegasus Mail 4.12

Spyware/Adware killer:Ad-aware 6 or Spybot Search & Destroy 1.2

Pop-up Killer/Browser Enhancer (for IE)Google Toolbar 2.0.102

PDF document reader:Adobe Acrobat 6.0

FTP program (other than IE and the command line FTP)Winsock FTP LE 5.08 or FileZilla 2.2.1

Internet Chat Programs (other than Windows Messenger)Gaim 0.70or Trillian Basic 0.74E

Firewall Software:ZoneAlarm 3.7.211

or if you have Highspeed Internet, a spare 200mhz PC, and two network cards laying around...ClarkConnect 2.0

CD Ripper / MP3 Creator CDex 1.51

Graphics Editor (other than Paint) The Gimp

Graphics viewer (other

Essential open source games by paroneayea · 2003-10-08 14:08 · Score: 1

#1: Kobo Deluxe - addictive overhead space shooter
#2: nethack - THE RPG. Prepare to not get any work done.
#3: Frozen Bubble - A clone of Puzzle Bobble (aka bust-a-move) that's so good, I think it even outdoes the orginal. The music is just plain awesome... my friend burned it onto a CD and we listen to it in the car whenever we go driving.
#4: Armagetron - It's like... Tron lightcycles.... except in 3D... and so much more awesome.
#5: Ur Quan Masters - This is basically Star Control 2 released open source. What are you waiting for? GO!!!!
#6: Pingus - Lemmings for Linux, really. Includes functional level editor. Really, I couldn't ask for anything more.

--
http://mediagoblin.org/

Editplus by stev_mccrev · 2003-10-08 14:21 · Score: 1

I know the initial question was for family users, but Editplus is a fantastic text editor.
Syntax highlighting, formatting, auto completion, etc.
Syntax files can be downloaded for pretty much anything you are gonna want to code in it, or you can write your own custom syntax files.
Plenty of user definable functions, and an output window for any functions that need them (ie. Java compiler, etc)

It's not free though.
Stev.

knoppix damnit by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 14:24 · Score: 0

enough said

WHAT?? by astro-g · 2003-10-08 14:24 · Score: 1

2 things Ive found -1) in windows 95 - say you were on dialup, downloading a file overnight, the system idle process would leek memory, and the machine would crash before the download was completed. run winamp, no leak, no crash. 2)realone is a piece of obnoxious MAlware JUNK

My bare minimum Joe-public setup: by pi_rules · 2003-10-08 14:27 · Score: 1

I did something similiar in the 2000 to 2001ish era. I forget exactly when, but it was basically a "public terminal" in my apartment. Anybody that was hanging out and wanted to use a computer to do something, which was more often than I thought it would be, was directed to the handy little box in the living room. Nobody really did word processing on it though.

At any rate, the bare minimum stuff for a box that I sit down on had to have (at the time):

A good browser.
A good MP3 player.
A decent MP3 pirating tool.
An AOL IM program.

Everybody that dropped in and hung out with us would make use of such things. Now, if this is a family PC that doesn't do gaming I see no reason why you'd actually need Windows on it. I'm a Linux Zealout but even I'll admit when Windows has it's place and in a general purpose "just do stuff" box Windows isn't it... unless you need games or Office specifically. Once you need Office though it becaomes a "compatibile with work thing".

Now, a good browser: Firebird. It just plain rocks. I like it. Runs great on Linux.

MP3 player: XMMS... acts just like Winamp, the kiddies won't have any real problem learning how to use it.

MP3 pirating tool: gtk-gnutella. You might not want this on a family box though. In the heyday of Napster I had gnapster installed on this public box though for friends that wanted to nab a song real quick as we hung out and make their own playlist. Purists may argue that I'm a damned criminal for this but to be honest when there's 10 people hanging out at your place and somebdoy wants one of the latest top-40 hits what's the harm? We used it as a tool for us to grab our favorite hang-out tunes. Odds are somebody had the damned CD in their car but it was way easier in that day to just download it than rip and encode it. After Napster I found myself ripping and encoding CD's and tossing them into the party playlist.

AOL IM was "the thing" that everybody I knew used in that era. MSN caught on a little after that but the solution is still the same: gaim. I've had no-nothing-about-tech friends stop by and use gaim without a problem. I just show them the icon, where to setup the account and they're off. Kids will understand it easily.

Mail client? That's what the browser is for IMHO. Children and non techs are happy with web email so just leave it that way if you can. I don't think I've ever seen a casuasl computer user say,"But I need POP3 access to my email account." If they care that much about email they'll tell you what they need for an email client. Kmail or Balse would suffice for most. For me? It's mutt.

Now, since it's for home use, you need a word processor for the kiddies to type up homework with. If you're going to use Xp Wordpad is prefectly fine here. Seriously. Failing that install OpenOffice regardless of your OS. Go with Abiword or Kword if you want something less "bloated" though. I use all three depending on my mood.

So, that's a rather lengthy explanation of my thoughts. Personally when I sit down at a new Debian install I make sure I have the following which are not part of general use:

vim, lynx, mozilla or firebird, wget, nmap, traceroute, gnome, aterm, gaim, xmms, grip, ogg vorbis utils, abiword, ps2pdf and related utils, mutt, xpdf, maybe ghostview/ghostscript, gcc, make, perl, maybe python, openssh server/client.

Just my 2 cents.

Re:Do you want to buy software or feed your childr by westlake · 2003-10-08 14:44 · Score: 1

Microsoft Office

Even a one-seat license is too expensive for the typical family.

Office 2003 Student-Teacher Edition (Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint) can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com for $130. Three seats. Free shipping, no ID required. Full versions, uncrippled.

There is much to admire in OpenOffice.org. But it's hard to ignore the enormous base of support for MS Office.

Here, at any given moment, there at at least three public schools, a library and community college offering night courses in Office, and free certification programs for the disabled, those on welfare, etc.

SlowView by sol2k · 2003-10-08 14:44 · Score: 1

I cannot believe nobody mentioned SlowView (). It is a fantastic ACDSee clone, with all the basic features and it also allows resizing, batch conversion and batch renaming. Pretty sweet for a free tool. View it does, slow it is not !

To add one more thing to list... by fbg111 · 2003-10-08 14:45 · Score: 1

... which could be very beneficial for a family computer: Cleverkeys http://www.cleverkeys.com/ Very cool program that runs in the background in the system tray. When you come across a word on the Net that you don't know, highlight it and hit Ctrl-L, and it will popup a browser window that looks the word up at Dictionary.com.

--
Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams

Pegasus Mail, and keep Knoppix around. by jonadab · 2003-10-08 14:47 · Score: 1

Mandrake 9 comes with most of what you need, so mostly you're going
to pack that CD out with Windows equivalents. For email, for Windows,
NOTHING comes close to Pegasus Mail. For Linux, you're stuck either
learning a geek-oriented user interface (Gnus) or using something
that's highly inferior feature-wise (e.g., Evolution, Mozilla, ...),
but for Windows, don't skimp; get Pegasus Mail. It's freeware, it's
been around the block a few times, has had most of the major features
people care about since 1995, has virtually no learning curve to
get going initially and a passable learning curve for the more
advanced features, has the most advanced filtering system I've ever
seen that doesn't require you to write scripts, and generally rocks.
I recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to learn a scripting
language in order to customise their mailreader. (For those who
do, of course, there's Gnus (the official motto of which is "Kitchen
sink? We didn't need to add that because Emacs already has it
since version 19").)

> A handy web browser?

Mozilla, of course. Also go to plugins.netscape.com and get any
of the plugins you happen to want.

> What would you consider the top 10 (or so) pieces of software for
> a new home system, bearing in mind that I need software for both
> the Windows and Linux side of things?"

1. TweakUI, from Microsoft. Windows isn't finished being installed
until you have this. Using Windows without it is inconceivable.
Some of the other Power Toys may be useful also, but this one
is the must-have.

2. A good text editor. Notepad is NOT acceptable. PFE is decent
enough if you're not picky, is freeware, and has basically no
learning curve. It's not suitable for most programmers, though,
as it doesn't have the high-end features (syntax highlighting,
automatic (re)indentation, folding, full scriptability, ...).
It does have basic macros. UltraEdit is a bit better but has
a registration fee. If you're looking for the one that has had
everything including the kitchen sink since three major versions
ago and has added more features since, that's Emacs, but be
forewarned that Emacs has a significant learning curve.
Mandrake comes with all the editors you need, so you only need
to include one for Windows.

3. Mozilla. Yeah, it's big. It's worth it. Mandrake comes with
it, so you only need the Windows version.

4. OpenOffice, which you already know about. Mandrake comes with
this, so you only need the Windows version.

5. Perl. Okay, so I'm a geek, and if you're not, you might skip
this one. But if you are a geek, you'll want this. Get the
Windows build from ActiveState. (Mandrake, of course, comes
with Perl already.)

6. Ad-Aware or one of the equivalents that the other posters
mentioned. You need this for any Windows system. Linux at
least so far doesn't need it, though in principle there's no
reason spyware couldn't be written for Linux; there aren't the
same barriers as there would be for a virus. But anyway,
get Ad-Aware or something like it, and run it once a month
or any time you notice Windows performing very badly even
after reboots.

7. Pegasus Mail, if you can stand only getting your mail in
Windows. If you need to also be able to get your mail in
Linux, you'll want to look into a cross-platform solution
such as Gnus or Mozilla Messenger; in that case, store the
mail on a FAT32 partition and in Mandrake create a symlink
pointing to it from the appropriate place in your Linux
filesystem, so that your mailreaders on Windows and on
Linux will be working with the same mail folders and stuff.
You may be able to symlink the browser bookmarks in th

--
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.

One more point - the AUD9.90 reactivation charge by Compact+Dick · 2003-10-08 15:00 · Score: 1

You forgot to mention the most blatant issue of all: Intuit's policy of charging AUD 9.90 [or AUD9, I'm not sure] for each activation after the first one.

In a letter sent to APC magazine, a gentleman explained that his hard drive died and he had to do the usual reinstall on the new drive. On the list was Windows XP and Quicken's Quickbooks. While XP activated over the net with no nonsense, Quicken's net activation scheme wouldn't work. After phoning up their 1900 support line, the support drone asked for his credit card details so they could bill him the activation fee. He was shocked. Repeated requests for an explanation got a "it's company policy and included in the EULA" soundloop from the drone.

Needless to say, it's created a huge furore here in AU but the comany has not backed down from its stance of charging reactivation fees. If Intuit must put their customers through mandatory product activation, they should have the decency to keep it free of cost and hassles for the customer. If it's too expensive, then just drop it.

--
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]

WinRAR best archive utility by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 15:05 · Score: 0

rar zip cab arj lzh ace tar gzip uue bz2 jar iso
you need no other

Good basic software, not all free. by OgGreeb · 2003-10-08 15:17 · Score: 1

I believe in the rule the less you know - the more you should pay (for better tools). Unskilled home PC users can't really afford to cheap out. So I insist the people I "service" have these tools bought and/or downloaded and available nearby on CD:

(Antivirus) McAfee VirusScan or AVG.
(Backup) Dantz Retrospect Express.
(Disk Recovery Tools) Norton Utilities, Norton Ghost, PowerQuest Partition Magic and Drive Image, etc.
(Office Suite) OpenOffice.
(Music) Winamp
(Browser/Mail) IE and OE latest version. It's too practical a decision, regardless of politics.
(CD Burning) Ahead Nero.
(Utilities) A CD containing the most recent versions of
- a. QuickTime
- b. RealPlayer
- c. Windows XP, IE6, Service Packs.
- d. Spybot/AdAware
- e. WinZIP trial
- f. PuTTY
- g. VNC and/or Remote Desktop Client.
- h. Adobe Acrobat Reader.
- i. AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.
- j. DiVX codec.
- k. Motherboard Monitor 5
- l. WCPUID
- m. Java Runtime Environment.
- n. MS DirectX 9
- o. MS PowerToys incl TweakUI.
- p. Palm Desktop Software.
- q. TimeRC.
- r. SereneScene Acquarium screen saverdemo.
- s. Google Toolbar 2.0
- t. Weatherbug
- u. WS_FTP lite.
- v. Macromedia Shockwave Flash.
- w. latest verion of PGP.
- x. Zone Alarm firewall.
- y. Entech Powerstrip.
- z. Alcohol 120% to mount virtual CDs.

and another CD with all the current video, audio, LAN, BIOS, printer, modem and wireless drivers, Microsoft and OEM patches and DVD video player software appropriate to the machine. I also provide a Ghost image of the fully configured, pristine machine and I make them run through a backup.

If there's room I'll throw some free games and demoes in as well.

--
-- Gary Goldberg KA3ZYW 301/249-6501 AIM:OgGreeb Digital Marketing Inc., Bowie, MD //www.digimark.net/

software by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 15:17 · Score: 0

Why even consider that known spy and romote
system controller that windows XP has become?
Anything that you install on that insecure piece of
digital chain around your financial butt becomes
the property of and the plaything of the geniuses
at Redmond. Personally, there is so much crap
in that one, from the first demand for on line
'registration' ( for what, a million lotteries) to the
last dreary and miserable concealed logging file
where you keystrokes are secretly logged it is
a spy in your house. I would not have XP installed
in any computer of mine. If I bought a system
that I had reason to believe EVER contained
XP, I would soak it in gasoline and burn it in
the hottest fire I could kindle. The backdoors in
it would extend all over physical addresses on the
disk known to be unreachable to the operating system.
I would then take what was left of the pc boards and
hard disks out of it and compact them with a truck.
XP can insinuate itself into your operation environment
much like the alien symbiotes in Stargate SG-1.
You will never find all the places windows hides
personal data about you in its 250 Megabytes of
visible and hidden digital obfuscation. Files can
be hidden by attribute and then sequentially buried
under tons of hidden directories like the layers of
an onion and winXP is a past master of it. If you
are really a sucker and use the NTFS, then no way
you can even look for them as the system will not
show you or even admit what it knows. 'Logging'
files and obfuscated registry entries are the worst,
and they are too numerous to mention. Then there
is the overblown paging file that takes as much of
your hard disk space as it can and never gives it
back. No, if you want to use windows, do not use
anything newer than win98 second edition and then
only use it to play games. Use a motherboard with
some jumpers that prevent windows intruders from
messing with your processor voltages or hard drive
params.

My standard setup by crashnbur · 2003-10-08 15:21 · Score: 1

Latest versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Opera, including mail clients.
AOL Instant Messenger (with DeadAIM ($))
Winamp 2.9x
Windows Media Player
QuickTime Player (Pro if it's worth the money)
NotePad++
WSFTP LE 5.08
Java Runtime
Adobe Reader
WinRAR
Macromedia's various readers/players (Flash, Shockwave, Authorware)
Google Toolbar for IE!
Tweak UI for Win9x/Me, WinGuides Tweak Manager ($) for WinXP
Microsoft Office Pro, XP or later ($)
Norton AntiVirus ($)
LavaSoft Ad-aware ($) ...and, of course, appropriate software to handle the CD/DVD drive(s).

Of course, I also have a few dozen other apps installed, including image and video editing software, various internet tools (newsreaders, parity volume handlers, dreamweaver mx, photoshop, and a bit more).

helping the masses by The+Tyro · 2003-10-08 15:26 · Score: 1

that is impressive... but not entirely surprising.

One of the computers was almost unusable... it was out of memory from all the bots, viruses, and worms running in memory. The fact that it was paging to disk constantly, with mad network activity was my first sign that something was rotten in denmark (my apologies to the IRC kiddiez whose bots I deleted... sorry guys, go find someplace else to install your scripts).

So much damage, and yet, the damage can be mitigated by a clueful user with the right tools... like the aforementioned program.

nice work... I'm sure your neighbors were pleased
.

--
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.

Re:helping the masses by simcop2387 · 2003-10-08 16:41 · Score: 0

yes they were very happy their computer stopped behaving like a 286 on a downer and finally acted like the 500mhz celeron with 64mb of ram it is

Re:Do you want to buy software or feed your childr by yerricde · 2003-10-08 15:43 · Score: 1

Thanks; I had forgotten about discounts for Microsoft application software installed on a K-12 student's home computer. I wasn't aware of that offer.

it's hard to ignore the enormous base of support for MS Office.

I'm not ignoring it entirely. OOo can read and write Microsoft Office documents (doc, xls, ppt) at least as well as the next version of MS Office can. From the limited use I've had of MS Office and OOo, the UIs are so similar that skills learned in one would easily transfer to the other.

free certification programs for the disabled

Does a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome (a mild form of autism, sometimes called "geek disease") count as a disability?

--
Will I retire or break 10K?

For Windows: Free and minimalistic by Bilange · 2003-10-08 16:01 · Score: 1

Media Player Classic - Windows ol' mplayer2.exe on steorids. Reads DVD, too. Tons of options, thats a must.

Foobar2000 - Created by an ex Winamp developper, its main goal is to be minimalistic. Tired of all those players sucking your ressources just for loading/displaying the skin? Try this.

Irfanview, image viewer, already mentionned

dbPowerAmp Music Converter - audio converter. supported: CDa/mp3/wav/ogg/wma, name em all. To convert, just right-click on the file in the file explorer.

PuTTY, of course

SmartFTP - not minimalistic, but quite complete FTP client

Also, I personally use Microsoft WTS Client to connect to my WindowsXP box. Shame on me. Should i switch to VNC? (I liked the sound feature in XP's :/)

--
"...a generation of kids has grown up thinking Trance is the shittiest music since country and western." - Paul van Dyk

Opera? Why? by cribcage · 2003-10-08 16:04 · Score: 1

I'm a Mac user, planning to upgrade to Panther upon its release. I use Safari, exclusively. I don't know anything about Opera, really. Can you tell me why it would be worth $39 to me?

crib

--

Please don't read my journal

Re:Opera? Why? by Moosi · 2003-10-09 01:10 · Score: 1

Download and try it for free with the adverts.

Takes up a bit of your desktop, but it should give you a fair idea.

I don't find much different between the performance between Opera and Safari, but they be based more on my machine (iBook 600) than any performance differences.

I would think $39 may be unnesecery unless those adverts really bug you :)

Troll? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-08 16:50 · Score: 0

Whoever moderated the parent as a troll is a slashtastic nitwit who probably thought that gvim was a great family editor, video card benchmarks were of utmost important and an ssh client was vital to family usability.

From my experience... by therufus · 2003-10-08 16:58 · Score: 1

Here is my top 10 winblows programs that should be encluded:

- WinMX
- AVG or Norton Internet Security
- Winamp 2
- Winace
- OpenOffice.org
- Mozilla Firebird or Opera
- Spybot S&D
- Nero 6
- WinDVD
- Download Accelerator

WinMX - the only one I know that doesn't rape and pilliage your computer
AVG or NIS - Free or pay for it. These are by far the 2 best - don't touch PC-Cillin or CrapAfee they will only root your computer badly.
Winamp 2 - Stable and simple does the trick.
Winace - .zip .rar .ace .lhz .tar.gz .whatever
OO.o - Free and just as good as MSOffice once you get to know how to use it properly.
FB or Opera - Just cannot have IE!!!!
Spybot - Like derr!! 'sif you should run a pc without spyware protection.
Nero - Easy to use and writes more *cough*illegal*cough stuff than roxio.
WinDVD - or powerDVD, I really have no preference.
DAP - 56gay or OC3, a good download manager is something you must have. AFAIK, no browser supports resume as clearly and easy to use.

What not to put on: AOL, Kazaa, Limewire, Morpheus, BonziBuddy, Hotbar, Gator, BearShare, any Br0derbund software, the list goeth on!

--
You moved your mouse. Please restart Windows for changes to take effect.

PERFECT Windows Setup - USE XTRA Space on WinXP CD by ShimmyShimmy · 2003-10-08 17:06 · Score: 1

I worked for tech support for a semester, so I got a good feel for most of the programs that people use... and soon enough I became 'that guy' that everyone asks for advice. After a while, I compiled my own Toolkit for installing windows/creating functional computing environment. About the free/cheap thing.... well these are the kazaa/post-napster days, you know how it goes.

I start by using WinISO to copy the WinXP CD to an image on my computer. WSwith a Windows XP Pro CD, then I start throwing random stuff in the ValueADD folder, namely:

Nero 5.5.1.4 + Plugins - you just gotta burn stuff.
BitTorrent - cause you can't install EVERYTHING from CDs
WinRAR - archiving/zipping etc
WinISO - great way to manage .ISO and add/remove files
VM Ware - I'm a newbie linux user, so rather than double-boot I just run a virtual Machine
Adobe Acrobat Reader/Writer - pdf files. 'nuff said
Adobe Photoshop - must-have for anyone with digital camera (and those without)

WinXP sp1 - must have; when I reformatted my computer, I got blaster before I was even able to finish downloading updates.
I think that just about fills up the Windows XP CD. Now, get an MS Office CD, ISO it, and start Adding stuff. When that's full, just spill onto a 3rd CD, and you should be all set.

Adobe Premeire - cause Windows Movie Maker just doesn't Cut it
DivX Pro 5 Bundle (not the GAIN one), plus other codecs - gotta play your movies
Apple Quicktime - .mov Tons of Networking Tools - NeoTrace, Remote Administrator, BulletProof FTP server/client, Mac Address Spoofer (smac), ZoneAlarm Firewall, Mozilla Firebird, Ad-Aware, etc
Power Toys for Windows XP - mainly for TweakUI

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but there are a couple more must-haves. I usually need a total of 3 CDs to setup a Windows Machine, and I also carry around a couple other CDs in my DiscGear box:
Red Hat Linux 9
Visual Studio 6
Super Troopers DivX
Office Space DivX
etc etc. Whew, that about does it.

--
Partial Credit: The Engineer's Best friend
"Well, the bridge didn't fall all the way down!"

Stuff I can't live without by Reziac · 2003-10-08 17:59 · Score: 1

Here's what I install to make a system "useful". (Not counting some specialty stuff of no interest to most people, like a BBS offline mail reader :)

DOS/Win32:
==========
wordproc: Wordperfect (pref 5.1 or 8.0) -- OEM $25 or less
browser/mail/news: Netscape (pref 3.04) -- free
browser for cranky sites: Mozilla (pref 0.99) -- free
download manager: Getright (any version) -- $25 shareware
hex viewer: LIST (any version) -- free for private use
HTML editor: AOLpress -- free
local file/ZIP viewer: QuickView Plus -- v4.0 is free with WP8
image editor: Corel Photopaint (pref v8) -- free with CorelDraw, OEM about $20
noisemaker: WinAmp (pref 2.6x) -- free
antivirus: FProt for DOS (runs in a DOS window) -- free private/$1 commercial use
firewall: ZoneAlarm (any version) -- free
file xfer: WS_FTP (any version) -- LE is free for personal use
finance: Quicken for DOS v8, or v5 if it doesn't Y2K for you). IMO the WinVersions suck.
game: DOOM (every version, plus 3000 PWADs :)

Linux: I'm not into it enough to have a list, but when it's up, I seem to use Konqueror for *everything*.

--
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?

A good text editor! by WoTG · 2003-10-08 19:14 · Score: 1

I haven't noticed anyone else mention this yet, so... For me, a good text editor is essential. Try EditPlus or UltraEdit (both shareware). Anyone recommend a good free editor?

I suppose it depends on what you do with your machine... but for me, a good editor turns out to be pretty handy.

So essentially, you don't believe in HIG's non? by ocelotbob · 2003-10-08 19:20 · Score: 1

The one size fits all, reuse as much UI as possible approach may break down slightly inasmuch as individual apps are not quite as powerful as they could possibly be, but the experience for the typical user is greatly improved by the fact that the email program, the web browser, and the calendaring app are all similar enough that someone can walk in, and with minimal familiarity with the programs, and obtain a reasonable degree of functionality by just learning the interface quirks of one program. Yes, the upper end is affected slightly by the fact that the app isn't as "powerful" as it could be, but for most people, familiarity is much more important than power.

Besides, the mozilla team has a framework for dealing with any deficiencies the one size fits all approach provides. The xpi/xul plugin framework for creating plugins and apps that create cross-platform plugins that work seamlessly beats the tar out of anything I've seen from the Microsoft camp in terms of browser development.

--

Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses

Re:So essentially, you don't believe in HIG's non? by pixelgeek · 2003-10-09 03:38 · Score: 1

But a HIG isn't the same as an application-specific UI.

The application can fit all the guidelines in the HIG but still be developed (and informed) by the way that the application is going to be used. If that model doesn't fit a second software development project (I don't want to say applciation to avoid confusion) then even though it still conforms to the HIG it won't work for the new development project simply because of the differences in the way each project is used or intended to be used.

If you developed a word processing package using the same UI structure as Outlook it would a disaster. Regardless of whether the UI conforms to some interface guidelines.

my 10 by Zugok · 2003-10-08 19:21 · Score: 1

Without a doubt, for an office suite, use OpenOffice.org

To be honest when it come to web browsing, email and news, I am happy with the Internet Explorer suite

I am also happy with Media Player as well

For a popup blocker, I use PopupPopper

For a download manager, I use LeechGet 2003

All over system tweaking, X-teq X Setup

For graphics manipulation, go forGIMP for Win32

Unfortunatelty the GIMP is not viewer friendly, so as a viewer (even though it is nagware), I like Poylview

Page defrag I automatically starts up each reboot

For compression decompression, use UltimateZip

--
"I just can't sit while people are saying nonsense in a meeting without saying it's nonsense" J Watson, Sci Am 288:(4)51

Things tend to work more. by EnglishTim · 2003-10-08 20:05 · Score: 1

Things just seem to work better on Windows. You don't have to go through seven shades of crap just to sync with your palmpilot. You never have to recompile the kernel. Keyboard auto-repeat doesn't suddenly mysteriously stop working (Okay, that one might just be local to my installation). Software is easy to install, none of that 'dependancy hell'. It doesn't do the equivalent of having X crash just because you dared to try and watch a video...

GNUWinII CD by AYeomans · 2003-10-08 21:05 · Score: 1

GNU Win II is even better than The Open CD (unless you need the source code).
See the list of GNUWinII applications.

--
Andrew Yeomans

VirtualCD by PhilHibbs · 2003-10-08 21:18 · Score: 1

For a laptop, Virtual CD gets my "Top Pick" award. Compressed CD images on your hard drive, that look like actual CD drives.

My choices by oniony · 2003-10-08 21:33 · Score: 1

I've spent a fair bit of time playing with various pieces of software, and here's what I keep running on my home PC:

Virus Killer

AVG Anit-Virus, a virus killer from Grisoft where a gratis version (free edition) is available. I'm not sure of its protection level but updates are available fairly frequently.

It's also quite poor in its appearance but it's hard to complain at a free virus killer when it must take a lot of time to maintain such a project. However, I'd not put all your trust in it, keep a wary eye on your system, a false sense of security is not a good thing!

Firewalls

Of the firewalls, I use an old version of Tiny Personal Firewall. They used to do a free version but unfortunately they now charge leaving you with few options other than the 'firewall for dummies' known as Zone Alarm.

Virtual Desktops

For desktop switching, a very useful thing you you program or work with graphics or CAD, there is an app called Multidesk from Tech Superior.

Unlike other products, it's light and onobtrusive. It puts an icon (or several -- your choice) in the system tray and you can switch desktop with a click of the icon or the keyboard shortcuts.

Web Browser

For web browsing, it's hard to beat Mozilla Firebird (formerly Phoenix). It's fast, supports tabbed browsing as is open source. You can get it from Mozilla.org

Web Filtering

Proximitron, a web filtering and page alteration proxy that lets you remove annoyances and even rewrite web-sites on the fly. The product is no longer supported or developed but some sites still have the download, best look at Proximitron.info.

The product is great in that you can match any HTML and replace it with whatever you like. The Proximitron author provides many such filters with the product and clever use of JavaScript allows all sorts of annoyances such as adverts, pop-ups, pop-unders, browser unloads, right mouse disabling to be removed or altered. I'm very sad it is no longer maintained.

Email Client

A good email client is really hard to find. I've been using an old build of the Mozilla suite but Mozilla Thunderbird is looking promising. I've used many other free clients including Outlook Express (discontinued), Sylpheed Claws (poor), et al but they are all flawed in some way. I'm not using Thunderbird yet but I soon will be. You can get it from Mozilla.org.

Email Spam Protection

POPFile, a great, free, open source baysian filter for email, hosted on Sourceforge.

TweakUI

I'm not sure if they do one for XP, I've never upgraded for political reasons but TweakUI has been available for other versions of Windows since Windows 95 at least. It provides a lot of advanced features that Microsoft left out of the rest of the user interface and allows you fix a lot of the common problems such as corrupted icon cache, manually removed applications as well as setting advanced preferances such as double-click rectangle size, etc. A must for any seasoned user running Windows. Available in PowerToys from the MS website.

Cygwin

Ports of many popular tools from GNU etc. that are normally available on a Linux/BSD environment. If you're dual booting Windows and Linux, then these are a must. Available from the Cygwin website.

Virtual Machine Emulation

If you're serious about dual booting, then you may want to cosider VMWare. It's very pricey but a fantastically cool product than effectively emulates an I386 PC and its hardware, allowing a second OS to run in a window on the native OS.

It's a

--

Powered by onion juice.

My Windows essentials by AYeomans · 2003-10-08 21:33 · Score: 1

My Windows Update CD has:

3 MiB Windows 98 SP1
26 MiB Windows 98 updates (fetched from WindowsUpdate)
34 MiB NT4 SP6a
15 MiB NT4 Security Rollup
129 MiB Windows 2000 SP4
133 MiB Windows XP SP1
35 MiB Windows XP updates (fetched from WindowsUpdate)
4 MiB HFNetCheck and friends
67 MiB Office 2000 SR1a/SP2
48 MiB Office XP SP1/SP2
78 MiB IE6 SP1
---
572 MiB Total (MiB = 1024*1024 bytes)
Once you've applied these, Windows Update won't take too long. (:-)

My next CD has

Web browsers - Mozilla, Netscape, Opera
browser plugins - Acrobat Reader, QuickTime, Ghostscript/Ghostview, Shockwave+Flash, Media Player, Sun Java Runtime, Real Player (and how I hate those plugins that need all their droppings cleaning up afterwards).
Instant Message updates, MSN messenger, Windows Messenger
Other tools - Ethereal, Sam Spade, GIMP, UnxUtils, Zip Central, GPG+WinPT

Yes, I know some of these have issues, but people will want to use them, so they might as well have the least-buggy version.

GnuWinII provides my next layer of tools.

And my other CD is Knoppix

Enjoy!

--
Andrew Yeomans

My Main List by TiggsPanther · 2003-10-08 22:26 · Score: 1

Anything I add at this stage is going to be redundant by this point, but here goes anyway:

Broswer.
Mozilla. I do almost all of by browsing in it. And since finding a Googlebar-equivalent on Mozdev, I've never looked back.
In fact, the only things I use IE for these days are the occasional page that Moz won't render, and for checking that my own website works under multiple browsers.

E-mail/Usenet.
I can't realyl say anything about email. I'm still using OE myself. But only 'cos I have a lot of saved mails I haven't got around to importing to Moz yet. Next re-install of 2K, though...
Newsgroups-wise, I'd swear by FreeAgent. Even though I tolerate OE as a mail-client, there's no way I'd use it for Usenet!

Multimedia.
Like others, I'd recommend WinAmp Classic for audio.
Video-wise I use WMP, but I know some people would prefer to steer clear of it. But really, anything which can pick up the system-wide Codecs will do.

Other gubbins.
OpenOffice.org is pretty good as an office suite. Does pretty much everything MS Office can do, except for the inevitable proprietary gumph.
And especially useful when so many bundles these days include MS Works. It's nice to have a free non-Warez alternative that's as full-featured as Office!

Like many others, I use AVG for anti-virus. It's a great free AV product. (So good I might even go for the commecrial version next paycheck)
I realy like that a company put a legit free version of what's probably THE essential application these days. If people don't like it, they can't complain 'cos it's free. And if they do, it's great free publicity for Grisoft!

Ad-Aware. Natch!

Actually, one last thing on OpenOffice. It's presentation program works pretty damn well for creating PowerPoint presentations. And seeing that MS makes a free PP Viewer available, you can even test your presentations to work with "Powerpoint Proper" without having to either pay money, or go Warez.

Tiggs

--
Tiggs
"120 chars should be enough for everyone..."

Forget winzip. use open software! by TruchiSoft · 2003-10-08 22:31 · Score: 0

seven zip is probably not faster, but supports way more formats, and compress better than winzip for zip's http://www.7-zip.org/

Winamp, etc. by 1eyedhive · 2003-10-09 00:49 · Score: 1

I've used winamp since the 2.1 days (on a 56k 266PII and first saw the acronym "MP3"), currently using 2.91 (i don't trust 3... yet) no mem leaks, OOG plugin available. use FFDShow for X-vid/Divx stuff w/ AC3 filtering. Winamp 2.91 has a decent video player built in (supports above mentioned codecs well), plays the videos like any other file (mass playlists too ) If not Winamp, then WiMP 6.4 (stock with win2k, i avoid 7+ like the plague) for FTP, i either use SmartFTP or WS_FTP LE (lightweight, free, fast). Virus scanning: AVG personal ed. Alt virus scanner: kaspersky (gets more then AVG, lot slower though) Office dox: OpenOffice (.doc files == work of satan) System stats: Statbar http://www.statbar.nl has: CPU/RAM monitor, network monitor, Winamp 2x/3x controls, master volume controls, CD Tray controls, time sync, keyboard lock indicators, LogOff/Restart/Shutdown/Lock Workstation, Windows Uptime, Drive usage stats, etc Music encode: CDex works very well.

--
Logistical Chaos Officer http://www.slagg.org - LAN Gaming in Sarasota FL,USA

A few you forgot by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-09 01:18 · Score: 0

VLC - one of the BEST OS X Divx players.

EscapePod - ctr-alt-del and kill the frontmost app. Great for Win users and for games/apps that crash with video probs so you can't get back to the finder to kill it. (also great for when IE goes south and runs amuck) (its an AmbrosiaSW freebie)

Speaking of Ambrosia...just about ANY of their games.

SPARK - has a free edition...nice audio editing app.

and who pray tell never showed you the wonders of
GRAPHICCONVERTOR! A great app for opening oddball formats converting them, and doing quick editing.

i'll second opera by ed.han · 2003-10-09 01:43 · Score: 1

opera has a small resource footprint (relatively speaking) and beats the pants off mozilla/netscape for performance & stability, IMX. i'm running it on a win2k box through ISA server in the office and it still runs faster than IE. tabbed browsing, nice interface and no eolas concerns. :D

very nice app.

ed

Your Naive by redog · 2003-10-09 01:46 · Score: 1

"MS Office at least gives you choices during the installation process and installs only what's selected"

So does mozilla.

"I, personally, do use Outlook, because it works for my purposes, and no, I never have had a virus, isn't that interesting?"

Not intresting at all. Tells me your either naive , can't tell when your anti virus has cleaned up after Outlook, or that you simply have not had the same email address long enough to arrouse a spammer.

"Junk mail/spam simply isn't a problem on my accounts."

Play the lottery! You must know something the rest of us don't.
Please tell us good sir, how does one avoid spam problems with just Outlook?
The world could be enlightened by your knowledge of spam dodgeing.
Viruses? NOT a problem just use outlook! Whatever guy, its missinformation like this that keeps the vulnerablities in place.
Id bet money valve was useing outlook.

re: if you are too cheap for an AV program... by ed.han · 2003-10-09 01:52 · Score: 1

that's interesting: i've had exactly the reverse experience and just last week, in fact.

ed

linux writing to the XP partition by TooLazyToLogon · 2003-10-09 02:30 · Score: 1

From what I have been reading on the SuSE newsgroup, SuSE 9.0 will be able to write to WinXP partitions. It's coming out at the end of Oct. SuSE is an almost no brainer install, even by ftp.

Essential XP tools by 010011101_(thats+me) · 2003-10-09 02:31 · Score: 0

Ive been using XP for a while now and these are the essentials that I've found I can't live without
1 : Firebird (IE sucks leprous donkey balls, opera cant render properly, mozilla is slow, firebird is the best)
2 : Gvim is the best editor out there for code and text alike (remember to disable backup files)
3 : PuTTy retreat to a comfortable bash shell ;)
4 : XP Powertoys virtual desktop manager,cmd prompt here context menu and of course...
5 : TweakUI turn off those silly windows defaults
6 : a good FTP client,WS-ftp is a good one
7 : Winace,the only compression tool youll ever need!
8 : startup monitor monitors for extraneous crap adding itself to startup
9 : strokeit ,mouse gestures for windows,Yay!
10 : Nethack the only game you need (safe for work too)

that might not necessarily be in the right order and this doesnt count amusement software like media players and whatnot but those are my most used tools at work

--
(A)bort, (R)etry, (P)retend this never happened...

Re:You're Naive by PainKilleR-CE · 2003-10-09 03:15 · Score: 1

Not intresting at all. Tells me your either naive , can't tell when your anti virus has cleaned up after Outlook, or that you simply have not had the same email address long enough to arrouse a spammer.

I never let anti-virus software run in the background on my machines, it has detrimental effects on the stability of some other software, and isn't necessary when you (as the user) and anyone else that might use your computer knows how to avoid viruses. Outlook itself prevents most executable file formats from even getting to the inbox in the first place (to the point that I have to use rar files to send myself executables, or for other people to send executables to me). I've had the same email address for almost a year. Prior to that I had the same email address for almost 4 years and still had very few problems with spammers, and no problems with viruses.

"Junk mail/spam simply isn't a problem on my accounts."

Play the lottery! You must know something the rest of us don't.
Please tell us good sir, how does one avoid spam problems with just Outlook?
The world could be enlightened by your knowledge of spam dodgeing.

Very simple: don't publish your email address. Do you see my address here? Hell, even when I had a fairly well published email address running tech support for TFC through planetfortress or running a TFC league (profortress, no longer running) those addresses didn't have problems with spam. The biggest spam problems I've ever had were when @Home was selling their email addresses and on hotmail accounts (where hotmail generates most of the spam).

Viruses? NOT a problem just use outlook! Whatever guy, its missinformation like this that keeps the vulnerablities in place.
Id bet money valve was useing outlook.

Valve already said they were using Outlook, that doesn't mean they were using a recent version of it or keeping it up to date. They even mentioned an exploit which may have been used which doesn't exist on the current (2003) or previous (XP) versions of Outlook, or on any service pack to the version before that (2000) within the last 2 years.

The true key to keeping away from viruses is a mixture of user education (don't open attachments), keeping things up to date (because believe it or not most worms and viruses do use patched exploits), and keeping a good firewall in place. Other than that, keep web servers and client machines seperate, because web servers are targets regardless of what server you run (though obviously using IIS is problematic, to understate the matter).

--
-PainKilleR-[CE]

Re:Opera! Great for webcomics! by walter73 · 2003-10-09 09:34 · Score: 1

open all 30 of my webcomics at once? neat!

Funny you mention this: this is one of Opera's features I like the most. Daily, I read my 20 comics opening them at once.

What an improvement comparing with opening the pages one by one...

You only need three for the Windows side... by xeo_at_thermopylae · 2003-10-09 15:37 · Score: 1

Antivirus package. Any of AVG, Norton, or McAfee are fine.
Software firewall. ZoneAlarm (the free version) is the best choice.
WindowsUpdate. Be sure to run this ASAP after first connecting to the Internet.

About ZoneAlarm(ZA): I've read all the gripes posted here about ZA. But I have extensive experience with ZA and have never seen those problems. I believe that in most cases the users were attributing other program's errors to ZA.

Fact is, ZA is da Bomb! The security is eminently configurable. You can set the security for each of your various programs. You can even allow others machines on your LAN to "tunnel" through the ZA firewall (although IMO it's best to not do that - better to let each machine have it's firewall up, just in case a user introduces a virus/worm on another machine). ZA logs penetration attempts, warns you about possible trojans (alarming at first, but OK once you realize what's happening), and has scads of Help information. ZA is easy to install and easy to uninstall. I have never had problems with file corruption while downloading through ZoneAlarm, despite using a wide variety of file transfer tools. ZA just works.

Eudora is as dangerous as Outlook! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-09 16:09 · Score: 0

Eudora uses IE to render HTML mail, making it vulnerable to all the same attacks Outlook is. Use Mozilla - I'd suggest Seamonkey over Thunderbird for general use right now as Thunderbird is still fairly early in the development process.

Metapad as Notepad replacement by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-09 16:11 · Score: 0

Consider Metapad, too. Small download and executable, loads fast, handles big files.
25 languages. Recommended.

FDISK by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-09 17:20 · Score: 0

The first application you need is one which erases or reformats your disk drive. Second is Mandrake.

Summary of all posts so far, with site links. by mdfrq · 2003-10-09 17:36 · Score: 1

I've tried a good deal of the stuff listed. The following are the most intuitive, free, software products I have encountered. They increase productivity, and are stable.

Freeware List: If you can think of it, it's in here.
OpenCD: Precompiled CD with all open source software.
Doom9.org: Famed site for lots of media tools.
Trillian: AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Yahoo! IM software all in one.
AVG Anti-Virus: Free AV
SpyBot (Spam Remover): Free Spam Remover/Search & Destroy
Firebird: Web browser w/ adblock & popup control.
FileZilla FTP: FTP Client
Smart FTP: Free Client, better looking, faster
Kerio: Personal Firewall, better than ZoneAlarm
Textpad: Text Editor.
PuTTY: SSH Client.
CygWin: Linux emulation.
FFDshow: DivX/XVid decoder.
TweakUI: Microsoft's famed Powertoy for Windows XP.
WinAce: Fast, high-compression (40% smaller, faster compression than ZIP).
WinAmp: MP3 player, with this skin.
dBpowerAMP: Music Converter (copies CDs to MP3)

One last thing, don't use Outlook. Find a better program: Eudora, Thunderbird, or PegasusMail (in that order) are safer/more powerful. Windows comes bundled with great software, just like Mandrake - but their internet package leaves much (security) to be desired.

For those who like Tiny, try Kerio by Xconnect · 2003-10-09 19:43 · Score: 0

I'm not aware of the history of Kerio but I think it's a derivation of the free version of Tiny Firewall cos it works pretty much the same way. It gives better granularity than other firewalls like Sygate or ZA.

--
--- root@127.0.0.1

Re:You're Naive by redog · 2003-10-10 07:29 · Score: 1

Well mozilla won the readers choice award by LinuxJournal. I Like mozilla and mi sure if this fella were to impliment mozilla's profile the way I described in previous posts he would enjoy the benefits much.

My OSX Must-Have App's CD by eduardo · 2003-10-11 08:03 · Score: 1

(not in any particular order)
1. Safari
2. Palm Desktop
3. Toast
4. Real Player
5. iTunes
6. QPict - free image viewer
7. VLC
8. Adobe Acrobat Reader
9. OpenOffice
10. X11
11. MS Remote Desktop Connection
12. OSX updates
13. VueScan
14. Audio Hijack
15. Synergy
16. Ajoiner
17. Drivers
18. MS Office
19. iConquer
20. Fink Commander

Civ. 3? Nonsense. by bettiwettiwoo · 2003-10-19 16:07 · Score: 1

No system is complete without Civilization 3!

Oh, yes it is.

Monkey Island 3 now that is another matter. No system is ever complete without a bit of Monkey Island.

'I'm Guybrush Threepwood, a mighty pirate!'

--
The liver is evil and must be punished.

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