would you like your software to be considered for this list?
Give us your details
.
-
ModernMix
- Run Windows 8 Modern apps in a window on the desktop
- Display and pin Modern apps on the taskbar
- Explicitly close Modern apps by clicking its close button
ModernMix website
-
Chocolatey
When you use chocolatey to install applicatons/tools, nearly all
you need to do is type one line and let it finish the rest.
Chocolatey website
-
WinDirStat
WinDirStat is a useful tool to show which folders are consuming
the most storage. It gives directory listings and a heat map chart
that lets the user drill down to find where space is being
consumed. WinDirStat can be installed using Chocolately:
choco install windirstat
-
- Figure: WinDirStat showing
-
Skype
Welcome to the future of voice communication! Skype is an easy to
use piece of software that allows you to make phone calls over the
Internet at a fraction of the cost of regular telephone calls.
All you need to get up and running is a headset that plugs into
your computer, and some bandwidth.
-
- Figure: The Skype Window is very easy to use
Skype Website
-
Snagit
You need a good screenshot utility because a picture can tell a
thousand words. Snagit is a screenshot utility for users who needs
an effortless, effective way to work with "snapshots" of Windows
screens. It's perfect for images you want to include in manuals,
training handouts, presentations, marketing materials, and web
pages.
See our rule on
How To Use Balloons
and configure your Snagit.
I might of made it number 1, however the support for this product
is unfriendly.
-
- Figure: Screenshot of the Snagit windows
Snagit Web Site
-
Command Sync
Theres a lot of ways to make sure you have a backup, the common
way is to store your files on a server, but with notebooks
everywhere its is not a good option.
Comm Sync is a utility which you can configure to copy all the
directories you want and copy it to the server. It will copy only
changes and you can set it up in task scheduler and forget about
it.
CmdSync is the command line version of FileSync designed for batch
and/or scheduled synchronisation. It is completely parameter
driven and allows synchronisation in either or both directions as
well as optionally including sub-folders and handling the
timestamp incompatibility of different file systems.
-
- Figure: Cmd Sync command line tool
Cmd Sync Web Site
-
Folder Share
FolderShare allows you to create a private peer-to-peer network
that will help you to synchronize files across multiple devices
and access or share files with colleagues and friends.
By using FolderShare together with MSN desktop search, you can
even search your computer's local content remotely and download
files from your computer from anywhwere.
-
-
Figure: Folder Share helps you to sync files over Internet
Sharing photos via Folder Share is much faster and easier then
using emails.
Folder Share Web Site
-
VMWare
VMware Workstation is virtual machine software for technical
professionals. It lets you work on multiple operating systems on a
single computer. You spend less time configuring hardware,
installing software, and rebooting or reconfiguring systems, and
more time developing, testing, and deploying applications and
delivering support. VMware Workstation gives you immediate access
to the operating systems and applications you need to get your job
done now.
-
- Figure: Windows 2000 running VMWare with Windows XP
VMWare Web Site
-
Windows Benchmarking Utility For Performance (Sisoft Sandra)
Running out of bribes to entice your computer-savvy friend to
check on your PC? This utility's benchmarking, diagnostic,
testing, and tune-up tools gather and report information about
your system's hardware and resources.
You can check components ranging from your CPU, BIOS, and PCI bus,
to your printer, CD-ROM drive, and modem. A built-in wizard helps
you gather the information to optimize your system. You can save,
print, fax, and email system reports from within the program.
-
- Figure: Benchmarking Utilities
Sisoft Sandra Web Site
-
MadOnion PCMark2002
PCMark2002 is a benchmarking tool used to measure generic PC
performance in home and office use. PCMark2002 is unique in that it
measures computer performance at a low level. As a result, the
program is relatively small - only 8.8 MB to download.
It also has an integrated Online ResultBrowser that instantly
compares results against the world's largest database of performance
data. This application can be very helpful for managers to find out
how good their computers really are; e.g. when their employees
complain about performance.
PCMark2002 is available in a feature limited free Version.
FutureMark Website
-
Robocopy (for backup)
Robocopy is a powerful tool for mass data migration and server
consolidations. The tool operates as a command-line and is
included in the Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit. Robocopy is
utilized on a regular basis at SSW, running daily at lunch time
(1:30pm), hence ensuring that files are secure and backed up.
-
- Figure: Robocopy
Robocopy Website
Another good backup program is Arctor. It is not free, but has
more functions than Robocopy.
Advantages are:
- It zips all the files it backs-up saving space
-
It can store different versions of files and delete them after
there is to many versions or the time period is over. That
allows you to have full weeks of changes worth on one disk
Disadvantages are:
- No command line arguments can be used
- The backup process is very slow as each file is ziped
-
- Figure: Arctor GUI
Arctor Website
-
Bginfo
Bginfo is a little sysinternals application that will create a
background image with information from the computer that it is
running on. This is great when you have a rack full of computers
and a KVM to switch between them. You can see quickly and easily
which serve you are connected to.
You add a link to the computer setup folder and whenever you login
a new bitmap will be generated with updated information and taking
into account your resolution. This means that you can display info
like available hard disk and uptime and it will always be up to
date.
-
- Figure: Bginfo in action
Bginfo Website
-
Beyond Compare
Beyond Compare is a powerful time-saving utility for comparing
files and folders on your Windows system. Beyond Compare does both
FTP and Folder Synchronization. The UI for comparison is the same
for both FTP and File-based modes.
Get more Details about Beyond Compare by 3rd Party Web
Development Tools
-
Driver Agent
We can use Windows Update to download the latest patch for our
operation system; but how do I keep my hardware drivers up to
date?
Driver Agent can help you to scan your computer and generate a
driver status report for you, and if you registered, you can even
download the latest driver from them.
-
- Figure: Scan result for my laptop computer
Driver Agent
-
K-Lite Codec Pack, Real Alternative, QuickTime Alternative
People install QuickTime to play .mov.
People install Real Player to play real media files eg. rmvb, .rm.
We don't actually need that, the easier way is just install the
codec, and you can use 1 media player (your favorite one, usually
Media Player) to play all different formats.
The best one is (Lei's favorite):
-
Vista Codec Package (includeing RealMedia and QuickTime
components)
Alternative are (Ryan's favorite):
-
NetBalancer
Netbalancer is an awesome networking tool with so many features;
useful for developers, sysadmins and users alike:
- Set upload and download limits for any process
- Monitor processes to see how much bandwidth is being used
-
Define rules and filters (ie restrict OneDrive from syncing
files when on a specific connection)
- Awesome charts to visualise data usage
-
- Figure: NetBalancer Main Window
-
- Figure: NetBalancer Tray Tool
NetBalancer comes in free and paid versions, with the free version
being limited to 3 process priority limits and 3 active rules.
NetBalancer can be installed using Chocolatey using the following
command:
choco install netbalancer
-
WhatsUp Gold
WhatsUp Gold is the world's leading network management solution
with over 70,000 networks reliably managed worldwide. With four
distinct product editions all based on the same scalable
architecture, WhatsUp Gold delights network engineers and
networking-oriented IT pros with powerful capabilities such as
automated device discovery, graphical network mapping, SNMP v1-3
and WMI monitoring, and versatile alerting, notification and
reporting functionality.
-
-
Figure: WhatsUp Gold can help you do more network management
works
WhatsUp Gold
-
XMLTV Guide Pack (aka TV channel guide for Media Center)
Their software is great, the name is not great, now the URL you
use to download it.
-
- Figure: Load XMLTV data into Windows Media Center!
First download it from
XMLTV
(5 MB)
Second watch
XMLTV Video Guide
-
TeraCopy
TeraCopy is a great software to copy/move files at a maximum
possible speed. It is a free replacement for default Windows
copy/move operations. It offers following features:
- Copy files faster.
- Pause and resume file transfers.
- Error recovery.
- Interactive file list.
- Shell integration.
- Full Unicode support.
- Windows 7 x64 support.
-
- Figure: Copying files using TeraCopy
Download
TeraCopy
-
Windows Live Writer
Windows Live Writer, developed by Microsoft, is a desktop
blog-publishing application that is part of the Windows Live range
of products. It features WYSIWYG authoring, photo-publishing and
map-publishing functionality, and is currently compatible with
Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint blogs, Blogger, LiveJournal,
TypePad, WordPress, Telligent Community, PBlogs.gr, JournalHome,
the MetaWeblog API, the Movable Type API, Blogengine, Squarespace,
and all blogs that support RSD (Really Simple Discoverability).
Windows Live Writer introduces the Provider Customization API that
enables both rich customization of Windows Live Writer's behaviour
as well as the opportunity to add new functionality to the
product. Currently Windows Live Spaces, WordPress, and TypePad
have all taken advantage of this API to expose additional
service-specific features within Windows Live Writer.
-
SSW Diagnostics (Replaced by Chocolatey)
In SSW, we have our own tool to keep our system update to date by
checking every executables and dlls in the system.
-
- Figure: SSW Diagnostics scan result
SSW Diagnostics
-
InstallPad (Replaced by Chocolatey)
InstallPad takes care of downloading and installing the latest
versions of all your favorite apps. It is a great way to get from
a fresh installed PC to something usable.
-
- Figure: InstallPad helps you install your application
InstallPad
-
Ninite (Replaced by Chocolatey)
Install and Update All Your Programs at Once
Ninite website
-
WinZip (Replaced by 7zip)
WinZip brings the convenience of Windows to the use of Zip files
and other compression formats. The optional wizard interface makes
zipping and unzipping easier than ever. WinZip features built-in
support for CAB files and for popular Internet file formats such
as TAR, gzip, UUencode, BinHex, and MIME. ARJ, LZH, and ARC files
are supported via external programs. WinZip interfaces to most
virus scanners.
Eventhough most Windows comes with its own Zipping program, Winzip
is still good and allows users to span multiple disks.
-
- Figure: Winzip
Winzip Download at Tucows
-
TreeSize Professional 2.0 (replaced by WinDirStat)
As per Brian Randell's recommendation, Treesize Professional can
find out which folders are the largest on your drives. It shows
you the size, allocated and wasted space, the number of files, 3D
bar charts and pie charts, the last access date and much more
information for several folders or drives you choose.
-
- Figure: TreeSize Window
TreeSize Web Site
Another one is
Folder Sizes
-
DU Meter (Replaced by NetBalancer)
DU Meter provides an accurate account of the data which is flowing
through your computer's network connection. This readout is
presented in both numerical and graphical format, in real time.
-
- Figure: DU Meter can show your network connection
DU Meter