The Windows software you really need thread.

[Morgan Evanar]

Trillian AIM+MSN+ICQ. Y! Is best used with the standalone client for mulitmedia purposes. http://trillian.cc

Winamp 2.x (currently 2.9). Simply the best MP3 player for windows. Everything else really is junk, inlcluding Winamp3 http://classic.winamp.com/

Firebird (formerly Phoenix). Its basically a slimmed down Mozilla with popup blocking. You can also block images from a server. Dance all night! Also, built in Google searchbox and tabbed browsing. http://www.mozilla.org/projects/phoenix/ The 5/4 nightly is really good.

Irfanview I've yet to run across an image format this nifty app can't display. Also has the Lacanzos resize filter, which is more accurate than Photoshop's Bilinear. http://www.irfanview.com/

Leech FTP My favorite but discontinued free FTP client. Still available. Bookmarks and other very useful features. Clean, simple and effective interface. http://stud.fh-heilbronn.de/~jdebis/leechftp/downloads.html

True Launch Bar. Its sort of like a much better quicklaunch next to the start button, but can behave like a completely customizable start menu. Hard to describe, but I liked it so much I bought it. Shareware. http://www.truelaunchbar.com/

Photoshop 7 Cleaned up from the nightmare was PS6, the big daddy of all image editors has come home. There is a reason why people spend $500 on this thing--because its amazing.

[Figrin D'an]

Great thread idea... I'll add a few others...

Ad-Aware 6 Newest version of the wonderful spyware killer. Lots and lots of options, even on the freeware version.

SpyBot Catches everything Ad-Aware might miss.

Exact Audio Copy My tool of choice for pulling audio from CDs.

PowerDVD If you have a DVD drive, this is the player software you want.

StyleXP (Windows XP only) Allows you to apply new skins to the Windows GUI.

RegCleaner Keep your registry lean and clean with this handy tool.

[Morgan Evanar]

I'll see your EAC and raise you CDex http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/ , just for ease of use. I actually use EAC for ripping difficult CDs to wave and use CDex as a front end for LAME.

Ad Aware - http://www.webattack.com/get/adaware.shtml

[Figrin D'an]

That's not a bad way to handle it. You're probably right that CDex has a bit better interface. I just like EAC because it's what I'm used to.

Totally agree on Winamp. 2.x is the only way to go.... Winamp 3 just sucks donkey bottom.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Office 97 - Not too clunky and without the BS Office XP has. Do not install frontpage or Outlook and it's probably all you need.

[Alana Stormcloud]

So for someone new to Mozilla though I tried to use it before I only had it for a short while. Then my puter went down lol Anyway for someone new to it which is the best to get? the firebird? Mozilla 1.0.1?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

[mod comment]The posts were deleted, however I will re-iterate Fett's comment: I believe his point was just make sure you know how to use Trillian if you download it. Now, pay attention to the tag, no needless posts or arguing plzkthx [/mod comment]

[Figrin D'an]

Mozilla is up to version 1.3 now, which is what I've been using. Works great. Moz 1.4 is in alpha right now, so don't get it... it'll probably be buggy. Firebird (formerly Phoenix) is at v.0.5.

Either one is a good choice. Firebird is based on Mozilla, but has been tweaked and changed quite a bit to slim it down, and there are a bunch of different plug-ins that can add to Firebirds functionality (pop-up blocking, mouse-wheel scrolling, image removal, etc.)

Mozilla might be a bit simplier to set up and use.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I have Phoenix (its still called that on mine) so should I get a newer version? Morgan, you sent me to this version, so I'm assuming its a good one. I haven't had any problems, but then, I don't do a lot of fancy stuff. Plus, with dial up, my options are limited.

Question: Trillian still doesn't have webcam capabilities does it?

[Figrin D'an]

If you're not having trouble with it, don't worry about updating it. Firebird 0.6 will be out soon anyway, so maybe you can consider getting that version.


Trillian Pro has webcam capability, but it doesn't work as well as Y! in that respect. The freeware Trillian has no webcam capability.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Stupid Question: Firebird is a Web Browser?

[Morgan Evanar]

Firebird is now at .06. Get that.

It lacks the middle click scrolling feature IE has, so install this if you use it. http://autoscroll.mozdev.org/installation.html

Moz/Phoenix Nightlies are really amazingly stable.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Ah. So I need to get Firebird. Ok. Does it do anything else besides block pop-ups?

[Alana Stormcloud]

Morg on the top link.... Is it the bottem one we are to dl?? The one that says win32? at the end... :)

[Morgan Evanar]

I'd get the bottom one, after reviewing it for the past day.

[Morgan Evanar]

Wie: Built in. There is an option to disable it, if you want to get flodded.

[Alana Stormcloud]

Awesome thankie :) Oh My .... this is very cool :) Ok now that I got it lol Is there any tweeks I should do any thing I should dl to fix anything... :p

[Wei Wu Wei]

Oh no, that's cool. I hate pop-ups. I'll have to put it on my computer at home when I get the chance. I'm at work now. :)

[Alana Stormcloud]

Ok the link that Morg put in there.... I can not stress this enough get it get it lol Firebird rocks. I didn’t even have to import my ie favs it just did it all by it's lil self does happy dance .... :p:) I have not had an error, nor has it crashed once no matter how many pages I open.... tis killer :crack

[Darth007]

What makes Winamp 2.91 better than 3.0?

[Morgan Evanar]

Umm... Winamp 3's playlist handling is terrible, its comparatively unresponsive, the memory usage is odd, the search function is crap. The only thing it has going for it is freeform skins.

[Destiny Stormrider]

Personnally it's cause Winamp 3 seems to be slower, and it freezes my computer easily (then again I have 64 MB of RAM :|)

(Sorry missed Morgan's reply.)

[Darth Turbogeek]

Interesting that when I look through my PC, i hardly have anythign else other these programs installed.

Two programs that I like I'll add....

Thunderbird - Mozilla's dedicated Mail / News client. Under NO circumstances should a home user use Outlook / Outlook express. You have no excuse to even think about using one of the most insecure, bug ridden POS's ever. Thunderbird (Or what comes with Mozilla 1.3 final if you go with the entire Mozilla app) is an acceptible mail client that offers all the features of Mozilla, plus Bayesain flitering to stop spam.

Nero Burn - Neat CD-burning program. I like it and use it a lot.

BTW, I personally do NOT use anti virus programs in any form. I dont really see the need because almsot all virus can be stopped with a bit of smart PC usage. Not using IE / Outlook is a great start. Not allowing scripts to run things on your PC is another.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Add for extra virus protection - NEVER open anything you dont know the source of. NEVER open email with attachemnts with .scr, .js, .vbs.

.doc and .xls should be viewed with suspicion.

The fact is, there hasn't been a truly destructive, low level virus in years. Most are pathetic pranks like the Kornakova thing. A truly destructive virus would wipe out PC's with Outlook / IE in a second and spread so fast....... the best defence against a virus is not AV software, cause the virus that will wipe you out wont be detected in time - the best defence is smart PC usage. A virus cant just "run" - it needs soemthign to work with and almost all of them rely on users to inadvertantly spread.

Smart users dont spread virus

[imported_Firebird1]

Originally posted by Wei Wu Wei
Stupid Question: Firebird is a Web Browser?

Yes I am a web browser....

Why do you ask?

Ok, I'm looking for cuteness here...

[imported_Firebird1]

Other things:

Open Office: A free open source office suite.

StyleXP: Allows for easier switching of desktop themes for Win XP.

I think that the rest of them have been said before except Winamp 3.x

[Warlock]

I think that the rest of them have been said before except Winamp 3.x

... which we were pretty much panning a few posts up ;)

[Moltar]

Originally posted by Warlock
... which we were pretty much panning a few posts up ;)

Uh...yea..so?

[Seteth Morters]

Feurio cd manager/writer

Dunno what you all reckon of it, but (as a total n0000bie) I think its great, because its dead easy. Even my metaphorical pet monkey can work it.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

I use that one Seteth :D

Moltar - I was just pointing out that we'd fleshed out some of the disadvantages of using it over prior versions of Winamp :)