Below you can find my top 10 of essential programs I always install.

1. Firefox (http://www.getfirefox.com)For me the absolute number 1 webbrowser on any system. The upcoming release of Firefox 3 is promising, but for now I recommend the stable 2 branch as default browser.
2. OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org)
   
    OpenOffice.org 2 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.
3. Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. I use it to create podcasts and to make my own favorite ringtones (more on this in later blog post)
4. Frostwire (http://www.frostwire.com/) Frostwire is a Peer to Peer (P2P) information sharing client for the Gnutella network. The project was started in September 2005 by members of the LimeWire open-source community. As with LimeWire, FrostWire is written in Java, and so is capable of supporting multiple platforms. LimeWire is available in both free and paid versions, while FrostWire is released only as a free version. The FrostWire program includes all of the free LimeWire version’s functionality, plus a few features of LimeWire Pro’s fee based upgrades.
5. FileZilla (http://filezilla-project.org/index.php)FileZilla Client is a fast and reliable cross-platform FTP, FTPS and SFTP client with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
6. PDF Creator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/)PDFCreator easily creates PDFs from any Windows program. Use it like a printer in Word, StarCalc or any other Windows application.
7. Freemind (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page)FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java. The recent development has hopefully turned it into high productivity tool. A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea.
8. GNUCash (http://www.gnucash.org) GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL and available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

   Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate repo

9. GanttPV (http://www.pureviolet.net/ganttpv/index.html)GanttPV is named for a report that has become almost synonymous with project management, the gantt chart. Most people have used or at least seen them. GanttPV can be used to create gantt charts and export them as web pages. But GanttPV doesn’t stop there. Management of a particular project may require the tracking of many different kinds of information.
   GanttPV runs on Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OS X platforms. This is possible because it was developed using wxPython, one of the most popular choices for cross platform development. The Mac version is a Universal application (runs on both Intel and PowerPC Macs). It also will run on Linux.
10. Notepad2 (http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html)Notepad2, a fast and light-weight Notepad-like text editor with syntax highlighting. This program can be run out of the box without installation, and does not touch your system’s registry.

    Articles on Replacing the Windows Notepad

    • How to replace notepad.exe with notepad2.exe
    • WinXP SP2 - How to Replace Notepad.exe
    • Replacing Notepad in Windows Vista

There are many, many other free software programs that are good. This is also an item that was covered a lot (also on lockergnome)

This list isn’t meant to be the only list, and a lot of great freeware isn’t included. It’s a personal list of software I install on my computers.

In a future blogposting I will cover free programs for archiving and security.

Did I miss something great, or do you have an own opinion about a program? Please leave comments.

A log has changed, but somethings never change: I’m still working for a telco, testing new gadgets on a daily basis and havin fun doing so. It’s my intention to blog frequently to discuss things I see on the web, things I experience…

One of my first posts on this blog was about Windows Vista and how I didn’t like it. Since a few months I migrated back to this OS and I’m happy with it. Thanks to new drivers for my hardware most of the funny errors are solved now, and with SP1 the performance increased. Vista is great on a new system but my 2-years old desktop computer is still having the time of its life on XP (dualboot with Ubuntu).

I have a lot of good ideas for my next blogpostings, so keep tuned.

It’s good to be back.

Global Situation:

• North America (USA and Canada): 15.1% marketshare

• Central and South America: 11.9% marketshare
• Europe: 24.1% marketshare
• Africa: 13.1% marketshare
• Asia: 11.9% marketshare
• Oceania:24.8% marketshare

Methodology:
The use rate for Firefox corresponds to all Firefox visits for the period in relation to all browser visits combined.In this study, the indicator for a continent is intended to be representative of the countries audited in that continent. This indicator is an average of the country indicators. Therefore, the behavior of a country that generates few visits is considered equitably in relation to the behavior of its continent.

[Source: XitiMonitor]

Please visit XitiMonitor for specific information about this research.

[tags]firefox, XitiMonitor[/tags]

At this time, there are few details known about this extenstion and how the integration could be. Maybe something as the Ebay toolbar for Internet Explorer so you can easily manage your own auctions and have site integration?

Is this needed? I don’t know. In general my screen estate is to valuable to fill it with toolbars (for me the Google toolbar is the only one, but I use the space on it also to display my bookmarks folder). If you almost live with Ebay this could be handy. I subscribed for the beta test and will keep your posted about it.

[tags]ebay, firefox[/tags]

One of the earlier betas solved all issues with Windows Vista, so if you should run this ‘upgraded’ and ‘best windows version to date’ you should have a look at this beta. WinRar is very good at what it does. It’s highly recommended.

[tags]winrar, beta, compression, tools[/tags]

Before I post my list, I would like to say that this isn’t the definitive “Extensions you can’t live without”-thing where there are already tousands of it. It’s called “FireFox extensions I couldn’t live without”. These are for me the best, but maybe you have other or more specific needs.

• Mouse Gestures: Allows you to execute common commands (like page forward/backward, close tab, new tab) by mouse gestures drawn over the current webpage, without reaching for the toolbar or the keyboard.
• Linkification: Converts text links into genuine, clickable links 
• IETAB: IE Tab features: Embedding Internet Explorer in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox. This is a great tool for everyone, since you can easily see how your web page displayed in IE with just one click and then switch back to Firefox. As long as there are some sites that only work nice with IE, this extension is a time saver.
• Google Toolbar: I use it for the nice gmail and google callendar button integration, and the spellchecker that works everywhere. I also like the way it handles the mailto: links to use Gmail as default application.
• Google Browsersync: Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.
• Firefox Showcase: Showcase provides a new way to manage your Firefox tabs and windows by showing them as thumbnails in a single window, tab or sidebar. Includes a find bar that will filter the thumbnails, and the capability to select the thumbnails in the same way you would select files in your system.
• CoolIris Preview: Cooliris Previews gives you the power to browse and share Web links and rich media faster. Just mouse over any link, and the Cooliris preview window immediately appears to show you the content. To email it, just click.
• CopyPlainText: Have you ever copied something to Thunderbird or Office and been annoyed that the text formatting (bold, font size, etc) came with it? Don’t you wish you could just copy the text itself, without having to copy it, paste it into notepad, then copy it again? This extension gives you an option to copy text without the formatting. You can even set it to trim extra space in and around the copied text!
• Greasemonkey : Allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript. There are thousandsof scripts (5612 at the time of writing) available at userscripts.org . Tomorrow I will write about the Greasemonkey scripts I use. But you could already have a look at this fantastic extensions.
• Stylish: Stylish allows easy management of user styles. User styles empower your browsing experience by letting you fix ugly sites, customize the look of your browser or mail client, or just have fun. With an online repository at userstyles.org, you don’t even need to know how to write styles yourself. Tomorrow I will also write about the styles I use.

Extra extensions, maybe not fitted for everyone but without these my firefox wouldn’t be complete.

• Web Developer: Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools. As a web developer I use this one all the time, although there are many uses possible for everyone.
• Broadband Speed Test and Diagnostics: This extension adds an item called ‘Broadband Speed Test and Diagnostics’ to the Tools Menu in FireFox.  It performs the following tasks:
  - Display your public IP address and your public domain name
  - Perform download and upload speed testsIf you have troubles with your broadband connection, it can:

  - Troubleshoot and isolate problems by performing a couple of diagnostic tests (NIC card, local gateway, DHCP server, DNS server, web site)
  - Display local IP configurations (private IP address, MAC address, default gateway, DNS server, DHCP server, routing table, ARP table, active connections)
  The diagnostic and configuration display features only work on Windows

[tags]firefox, extensions[/tags]

Plugin for interactive web content sounds like flash, you think?

Like Flash, the Microsoft program will have development tools for designers and software developers.
Microsoft is saying that Silverlight can solve some of the problems content providers have at the moment with Flash. Microsoft is also introducing a new drm system, called PlayReady. The current version of Flash cannot protect content at this time.

Microsoft claims Silverlight will be cheaper than Flash. While Adobe Flash can have huge licensing cost for contentproviders, Microsoft plans to deliver all tools for preparing and straming videos with the to be released Windows Longorn Server.

And Adobe ?

Adobe is presenting the Adobe Media Player, directly targeted at Windows Media Player. Adobe Media Player will let you subscribe to content via RSS, and being the only major desktop application that will support Flash, and will be crossplatform (Windows and Mac).

[tags]microsoft, adobe, silverlight, flash, media player [/tags]

People ask me sometimes which software I use on a daily basis.
It’s a big list, but for me the following are my top applications.

Internet

My default browser is Firefox. It gives me speed, stability and endless possibilities using the extensions. One of the following days I will post which extensions I use, and the reason why.

I also have Opera installed on my computer. The more I use it, the more it impresses me. There are still some quirks that bother me, but each build it gets better.

E-mail and Calendar

I’m using a mixture of web-apps and local installed software.
Webbased I use Gmail and Google Apps for my domain. They give me great features to communicate and the Calendar makes it easy to plan all my things, let them be work related or personal. As an extra I receive sms for free to notify me of important things. Something I need because I’m sometimes absorbed by what I’m doing that I forget all other things.

I’m also an user of Eudora. The best desktop mail client I know. I’m using it for over 6 years now, and never had a serious problem with it. And when there occurred something strange, I always found help with the Listmoms Mailinglist. I still have to find out what I will do next now Eudora has stopped and turned over to open source and the Penelope project for Mozilla Thunderbird. I tried Thunderbird in the past but it wasn’t for me. I consider it a good alternative but it lacks power user functions I have in Eudora.

Instant Messaging

Most of my friends and contacts are using MSN Windows Live Messenger so I also have it installed. Luckily I also know mess.be so I could tweak it so it’s more enjoying to use.

I also have Google Talk installed. Nice to have the notifications of new mail in my Gmail account. Unfortunately my friends list isn’t as populated here as in Messenger.

Graphics

For graphics I have installed both Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop. PSP is still version 7 on my PC. I find it the best version ever. All future versions didn’t bring enough enhancements but added complexity and I’m not a fan of that. Photoshop is CS2, but currently I have no plans to upgrade to their newly released CS3 version. For what I need to do I see no added value on my PC. (for Mac it’s a completely different story)

Office

A lot of my friends are OpenOffice users and it’s installed on my PC, I don’t use it that much. For me Office (2003, not 2007) is the best. Well, for spreadsheet and wordprocessing, it is. Outlook is a horror I don’t want on my personal computer. I already have to deal with it at work, and that’s enough of horror.

Music

I listen to music a lot. Apple Itunes is my preferred music collection manager, and I can’t without my Ipod when traveling. I know that Itunes isn’t the best music player out there, but as a package there is no better solution for me.

That’s it for this list. As promised one of the following days my Firefox extensions list.

[tags]software, productivity, eudora, itunes, msn messenger, google talk, firefox, gmail[/tags]

Now my systems works the way I want it. No more funny problems with most of my software. Vista didn’t make me more productive, it slowed me down…

And that isn’t acceptable.

[tags]Windows Vista, Windows XP, upgrade, downgrade[/tags]