software for MS Windows
I generally avoid MS Windows though I occasionally investigate software for it, and accumulate the results here. If you think this list should be modified, please send suggestions to: help!
Ideally, these programs should be:
- of basic utility (not superfluous)
- fast/small/compact/efficient
- gratis (and preferably open source)
Beware that some installers install unwanted software (e.g. browser toolbars) by default; just disable those options when running the installer.
Software is open source unless marked* (with an asterisk).
utilities
- Sumatra PDF
- PDF viewer & browser plugin; small/fast alternative to Adobe Reader
- PDFCreator | qvPDF
- PDF virtual printer; PDF output from any program that can print
- IrfanView* | qView
- image viewer
- 7-Zip
- archive utility; supports many formats including zip
- FreeFileSync
- backup; fast folder comparison/synchronization
- WinDirStat
- disk usage visualisation utilizing treemaps
- GnuWin
- GNU tools; individual native Win32 ports
- Code Browser
- text editor; fast/functional/clean (supports folding and elastic tabstops)
- PSPad
- text editor; regex, syntax, hex editor, diff, macros, ...
- AutoHotKey
- automation; macro-creation, &c.; also does text expansion from abbreviations
- FARR (Find and Run Robot)*
- keyboard control; comprehensive launcher, &c.
- Rufus
- creates bootable USB flash drives
network
- Firefox
- web browser with ad blocker, script control, and other extensions
- Thunderbird
- e-mail client; easily imports settings from Outlook and Outlook Express
- qBittorrent
- BitTorrent client
- HTTtrack
- website mirror; a welcome alternative to wget
- PuTTY
- SSH client
- WinSCP
- FTP/SFTP/SCP client
- TightVNC | RealVNC
- VNC client & server
audio/video
- VLC
- media player; plays most audio/video formats
- Foobar2000* | XMPlay*
- audio player
- Exact Audio Copy*
- CD ripper
- ImgBurn* | CDBurnerXP*
- CD/DVD writer
security, &c.
- Microsoft Security Essentials*
- anti-virus; this actually works well (believe it or not, but it requires WGA)
- Avira AntiVir Personal*
- anti-virus; alternative to MSE (see: AV-Comparatives, Virus Bulletin)
- PeerBlock
- blocks connections to a specific list IP addresses
- Hiren's Boot CD*
- boot CD with many utilities
unfiled
- LibreOffice
- office applications; alternative to MS Office
software directories/reviews
- TinyApps.Org
- software directory of very small/fast/efficient programs (mostly free)
- Portable Freeware
- software directory and reviews
- Gizmos Freeware Reviews
- software reviews