Well with the new year just around the corner it seems like everybody is producing a list of something. So instead of posting something useless like the top 10 biggest developments in sporting equipment in the last 10 years, I decided I would put together a list of my top 10 most useful PC applications. If  you were looking for a list on sports equipment sorry to disappoint.

1. Firefox – No really? Yes it about explains it’s self
2. Songbird – Built on the same base as Firefox, Songbird destroys iTunes. What about the lack of a store? Well if you are still buying music from iTunes you need to listen up, I get higher fidelity used CDs for around $6 and that includes album art. Additionally Songbird has native APIs that allow anyone to open a store through songbird. One of the best features however are the extensions. They really let you tailor song bird to your exact needs and wants, just like Firefox. If you can’t tell I’m a super fan, I have T-shirt and everything.
3. VLC – I really don’t know what I did with out this. It is a no-nonsense video player that is powerful enough to practically do/play anything. I laugh inside every time I see someone fire up cyberDVD only to be frustrated and unsatisfied. As a result I carry it on my usb thumb drive because it is one of those things you never know when you will need.
4. Sun Virtual Box – This really isn’t that obscure of an application but it is amazing how few people know of it. It is great for test driving things, but I primarily use it for running XP x32 because my host OS is vista x64 which doesn’t support the bad 16 bit Spanish program I  have for school. Besides that I have maybe 3 visualizations that I use to play around with. For example I have hosted Servers on Linux Guests while I tried out the interface and tested code.
5. Revo Uninstaller – A program that actually uninstalls things unlike windows add and remove programs. It even sifts through the registry looking for left and forgotten entries. It’s only short coming is that officially it does not support 64-bit OSes but that doesn’t stop me from using it on my 64 bit computer, it simply means that it can only uninstall 32 bit programs. Apparently the premium edition supports x64 fully to bad I am so cheap.
6. Foxit PDF -  In comparison to Adobe Reader it is awesome, it make Adobe’s feel even more like something made by a 10 year old. It is not a perfect program, it has a few bugs, but the benefits out weigh those many times over. It features the likes of a tabbed UI, Directory searching, and saves your last reading spot.
7. Rainmeter 1.1 – First off, woohoo 1.1 Rainmeter is the best program for doing intensive desktop customization. While it has been out for a while version 1.1 offerrs a much needed overhaul. If you can imagine it on your desktop you can build it with Rainmeter.
8. Restorator 2007 – Extremely obscure and also in the desktop customization crowd. What sets it apart from anything else I have ever seen is it’s ability to edit .dll, .exe, .res, .rc, and .dc. Which means you can use it to edit custom windows themes and programs easily. I used it to replace a crummy email program’s error messages and make the start menu less drab, but the possibilities are endless.
9. The Gimp – What can I say it is free, not to difficult, and open source just to name a few benefits. It is a superb if not the best alternative to Photoshop.
10. DVDShrink – Free your movies, you own them after all. DVDShrink allows to back up your dvds on to your computer. If something ever happens to your disk you aren’t left out in the cold.

Be Sociable, Share!

•