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Programs you can't do without

ShowMe

Graduate Poster
ShowMe
Joined
Jul 25, 2001
Messages
1,350
A thread in the banter forum (gadgets you can't do without) got me thinking about this.

What programs do you use that make you think, "How on Earth did I do my job before this software came out??" Let's not think about the big programs (Like Operating Systems or Antivirus), but the software that just somehow makes your job easier.

For me it would have to be Ghost software, by Symantec (originally by Ghostsoft). This allows you to make an image of a machine, and restore it later.

I have a training room with 20 training machines. These machine have several different loads, depending on the class that's being taught. When all it takes to get these 20 machines ready for the next class is 25 minutes & 4 mouse clicks it frees up a LOT of time.
 
Homesite 5.0, its a HTML coding program. Its not a WYSIWYG, its your standard tedious "I type all my own code" program. All the HTML tags are color-coded, and it has a feature that automatically completes most tags as you type them. It also lets you organize your folders and documents into different projects, and it has a neat built in game (the game is an Easter Egg).

GIF Construction Set Professional is also an important program. Its a very easy program to use, it lets me create animated GIFs and GIFs with transparency.

PalTalk, without PalTalk I wouldnt get to listen to MoeFaux use foul language in that wonderful kittenish voice of hers. PalTalk is a good lot of fun.
 
ACDSEE and Windows Media Player. How I viewed porn without them is beyond me.
 
Not essential, but useful. http://www.belarc.com
The Belarc Advisor. It tells you what hardware is in a computer. Usefull when someone gives you an old box. Also tells you things like motherboard serial number. In case you want to search for BIOS updates, what RAM is supported, ect.
I just saves the time of pulling the top off and getting in there with a flash light.
Free with no catches.
 
Here's my gotta-have list:
  • 4NT, the windows DOS box replacement
  • Epsilon, the text editor
  • Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
  • 3M Post-It Notes
  • Macro Express, the hotkey program
  • Eudora, my mail app
And a whole raft of programs I wrote myself, in particular:
  • epiName, a regular expression file renamer
  • ParSec, my database program
  • ZzTran, my table-driven file translator
  • PrintEPS, my EPS file printing program

~~ Paul
 
Oops, don't forget Norton AntiVirus and Zone Alarm.

Oh, and Acronis TrueImage.

You know, there really is a lot of good stuff out there.

~~ Paul
 
Xnews for accessing newsgroups, EGAD it is just a brilliant programme (and free).

ACDCE for watching pictures

My brand New NERO 6.0.0.23 for burning more things on CD's than i ever thought possible.:D
 
LyX. I have always hated word processors. They are bloated and have so many features that the stuff you really need is buried. GUI based wysiwyg word processors are even worse. LyX is is one of, if not the best, pieces of software I have ever used. It is a completely different way of creating documents. The larger the better. All you do is type the material, LyX does all the typesetting. It uses latex for its output and the final results are fantastic. It's easier than just learning latex (which really doesn't look that hard).

I haven't touched a word processor for years.

How about all those little guys - ping, du, df, grep, traceroute, less, top, emacs ;) .

Quake III (still one of my favourite games).
 
Excel.

In my opinion, one of the most overlooked software on the market. I've done commercial software prototyping with it. With the inclusion of pivot table, you can interface with standard relational database.

They used to say that you can put someone on the Moon just using Excel. I believe it.
 
As far as handy gadgets are concerned, I rather like TreeSize for seeing how disk space is being used.
 
The apps I rely on the most, often without even thinking about how much I use them, include:
WS_FTP
WinZip
CDmax
Netscape Composer
WebMaster Pro HTML editor
PaintShop Pro
DeLorme Street Atlas
FreeAgent (NewsAgent)
100 Proof Cocktail Planner (OK, I don't really use this one all that much!)
 
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