The “Must Have” PC Program List

[PerritoBites]

Today I realized I needed a program to keep track of my appointments. I asked a friend for a recommendation since I know he synchs his blackberry with his computer's calendar. He recommended Outlook, but I wasn't sure if that was the choice for me.(not free) This got me into thinking about what other programs I might be missing that could actually be helpful and allow me to do more with my computer. So, I came up with the idea to make a thread about this, since I am sure I am not the only one who wants to know what is out there. I will make a list and try to keep it updated depending on the recommendations that people do. The only thing that I ask of you is to provide as much information as you can. These is some of the information I am looking for:
-Program Name
-URL for download or further information
-A description of the program. Possible explanation why it is better than anything out there.
-Price range if it is not free
-Nice features like being able to synch with your cellphone

You don't need to provide all this information, but the more information you post, the more helpful it will be. Also, feel free to expand on the descriptions, ill add them up. I'll start by adding some of my own programs, then update the list with what is posted. Feel free to post programs outside of these categories.


IM Programs
Digsby (FREE)- Digsby = IM + Email + Social Networks
-This IM program supports AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, Facebook Chat. Also it supports various social networks like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, and they said they will be adding additional social networks. It also has support for Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail, POP and IMAP mail. The interface is the best one I have found of all the IM programs out there, and it is customizable without the need to download apps. (a bit limited atm). A cool feature is that when you get a message it pops up temporary alert window and you can either reply from that window or from the actual message window. I find that feature usefull when you are working on other programs and you don't want to minimize it. Keep in mind it is still in beta and needs optimizations, especially in the area of memory usage.
-Holy fuckballs, just installed/tried Digsby, this shit is taking up 12x the amount of resources. What the shit. I didn't even know you could take up that much memory with an IM client. (Posted by Ninjarr)

Pidgin (FREE) - Home | Pidgin
The reason Pidgin is popular is because it is lightweight, moddable, clean and relatively bug free. (Posted by Ninjarr)

Xfire (FREE) - Xfire - Gaming Simplified
Keep track of your gamer friends and see what games they are playing.

Other Options: Trillian (FREE, or $25 for PRO version) - Cerulean Studios: Creators of Trillian and Trillian Pro Instant Messengers Multi IM Platform.

Voice Chat

Skype (FREE) - Skype official website – free download and free calls and internet calls
VoIP (Voice over IP) program. Can be used to call regular phones for a fee. Supports video and text chat.

Ventrilo (FREE) - Ventrilo - Surround Sound Voice Communication Software
If you play an MMO, chances are you will use this program. Allows for simultaneous chat between many people. You can get a free server, which allows a limited number of people (around 8 I think), or you can pay for a dedicated server. (or just join a guild that has a server and use it )

Text Editors
Open Office (FREE) - www: OpenOffice.org - The Free and Open Productivity Suite
Basically it is a free version of the Microsoft Office suit. From their website:
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.

Microsoft office ($99-$680) (Posted by Tyen)


Browsers
Firefox 3 (FREE) – Firefox web browser | Faster, more secure, & customizable
Awesome browser, not much needs to be said since it is popular. Cool new features in firefox 3 are:
-Being able to zoom a webpage, including images.
-When you enter a password it will bring a small message under the address toolbar instead of popping up a message like it used to
-Download manager got some improvements and you can now do searches through it and resume downloads
There are other things, but you can just go to the website to check them out.


Photos
Adobe Photoshop ($650-$999) - Adobe - Photoshop CS3 editions
Best Photo editor out there

Gimp (FREE) - GIMP - Downloads
Gimp is to Photoshop as Open Office is to Microsoft Office. (Posted by Ninjarr)

Photo Viewing / Organizing
IrfanView (FREE) - IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide
Light weight program that loads up almost instantly. Very useful for viewing GIFs since the windows picture view does not support GIF and it uses IE as the default program for opening it.

Picasa (FREE) - Picasa
It keeps track of all your photos and has a nice interface to search for them. You can also upload the photos and share them with other people. There are a lot of other features you can look up. Basically if you have a lot of pictures, this is a must have program.


Bittorrent
uTorrent (FREE) - µTorrent - The Lightweight and Efficient BitTorrent Client
Awesome bittorrent program out there. It allows you to add multiple torrents in the same window. It also lets you download single files out of a batch. It is lightweight and it never crashes.

Other options: sabnzbd (FREE) - SABnzbd.org : Home of SABnzbd+, the Full-Auto Newsreader - Not really a torrent program, but similar. It is supposed to make using usenet easier. Up to my knowledge, you have to pay to join a usenet. (No, I haven't tried it out)


Movies
Combined community Codec Pack (FREE) - Combined Community Codec Pack
It is a compilation of most codecs you need to watch movies. It also comes with Zoom player (awesome for movie playback) and Classic Media Player (free program to watch DVDs)

VLC (FREE) - VLC media player - Overview (Posted by Ninajrr)
-Nice lightweight player that can play just about anything out there.
-VLC should be the ONLY program you use for music/movies. PERIOD (Posted by Tyen)

KMP Player (FREE) - Download KMPlayer 2.9.3.1431 Beta - A korean media and DVD Front-End Player - Softpedia (Posted by Ashalon)
The best video player there is. hands down beats the crap that is VLC. Tons of features to tweak. for instance my shitty laptop wouldnt play H.264 in high resolution in sync on anything when using subs even in VLC. download KMPlayer and tweak subtitle settings and worked like a dream.

Music
Itunes (FREE) - Apple - iTunes - Download iTunes
Everyone knows about itunes. Good music player with a nice interface. You can set it up to copy and organize your music when you import it. Easy to synch to an ipod.

Winamp (FREE) - Winamp Media Player - MP3, Multimedia, and Music Player
-More of a preference for those who hate iTunes (Posted by brekk)

Other Options: Foobar 2000 (FREE) - foobar2000 (Posted by Ninajrr)


Calendar Organizer/Appointment Tracker
Mozila Thunderbird (FREE) - Thunderbird - Reclaim your inbox (Posted by Soriak)

Google Calendar (FREE) - http://www.google.com/calendar/ (Posted by Soriak)
Web interface that can be accessed from anywhere.

File Compression
WinRAR (FREE-ish) - WinRAR archiver, a powerful tool to process RAR and ZIP files
-it works on almost anything including .zips (Posted by brekk)

7zip (FREE) - 7-Zip
An Alternative to WinRAR. It's open source and has a better compression format than winRAR. (.7z files) Downside is that you can only unpack RARs, you can't make them. (proprietary format) (Posted by Soriak)


Screensavers
ElectricSheep (FREE) - the electric sheep screen-saver
-Best screensaver ever. I'd had it on all my computers since '04 (Posted by brekk)

IRC
xChat (FREE) - XChat: Multiplatform Chat Program
"XChat is an IRC chat program for both Linux and Windows. It allows you to join multiple IRC channels (chat rooms) at the same time, talk publicly, private one-on-one conversations etc. Even file transfers are possible." I use this program because it has a nice interface and it is easy to set up.

mIRC (FREE) - mIRC: Internet Relay Chat client (Posted by Tyen)


Optimization/Protection
CCleaner (FREE) - CCleaner - Home (Posted by Gigfc)
"CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! "

Ad-aware (FREE version) - Ad-Aware @ Lavasoft - The Original Anti-Spyware Company - Lavasoft (Posted by Antoine)

Spybot (FREE) - The home of Spybot-S&D! (Posted by Antoine)
Anti-spyware

O&ODefrag ($45) - O&O Software - O&O Defrag Pro Disk Defrag Software
I'd list O&O Defrag as it's the best defrag program I've ever used but I don't think the full program is free through legal means. (Posted by Antoine)

CDs/DVDs
DVD Decrypter (FREE) - DVD Decrypter
Rip DVDs and get rid of encryptions

Daemon Tools (FREE) - - THE DAEMONS HOME
Emulate Image Files (ISO, etc) without having to copy the files into a CD/DVD.

Other Options: Alcohol 120% ($45) - CD and DVD Burning Software - Alcohol 120% - Alcohol 52% and Alcohol 52% Free Basically the same as Daemon Tools, but you have to pay. Don't know what benefits it might have over Daemon Tools.

[PerritoBites]

Others that need to be sorted or didn't make it to the list:
isobuster
blackberry desktop manager
adobe premiere
adobe flash
maya 2008
putty
Nero
Invoice maker
-
K-Lite codecs
Mediamonkey
BitTornado
IRFANVIEW <-- this one you must have
-
ipguardian
gimp

For Desktops: Either BOINC or Folding@home. The former takes less time to set up on multi-core systems, but if you have a newish computer you can use Folding@Home's SMP client. It's in early beta, but is a true multi-core application and will give a ton of points (and gets a lot of work done)

JetAudio - COWON America If you would like to have a music player that doubles as an alarm.. Comes in really handy for me, as I'm a heavy sleeper and only very loud noises in the same room will wake me up at a given time if I was exhausted when I went to sleep

* Adobe InDesign® CS3
* Adobe Illustrator® CS3
* Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
* Adobe Flash® CS3 Professional
* Adobe Dreamweaver® CS3
* Adobe Fireworks® CS3

* Adobe Contribute®
* Adobe After Effects® CS3 Professional
* Adobe Premiere® Pro CS3
* Adobe Soundbooth® CS3
* Adobe Encore® CS3
* Plus Adobe OnLocation™ CS3 (Windows® only) and Adobe Ultra® CS3 (Windows only)

I would say RivaTuner is pretty essential, even if you don't overclock any hardware it's useful to control your fan speeds. Especially for video cards, my 8800gtx fan was only at 1600rpm default and ran around 55-57C idle, you can pump it up to 2800rpm and idle around 48C and i've never seen it go past 62C on full load.

AVI ReComp
Free - I use it mainly to hard sub movies

CDCheck
Free - error detection for burned cd/dvds

Flexible Renamer
Free - File renaming

GSpot
Free - Video info tool

quickpar
Free - Parity Volumes may be used to verify that a set of files have not been corrupted, or to reconstruct damaged files

[brekk]

K-lite Codec pack

Xfire

Winamp (more preference) I personally despise iTunes.

WinRAR its free'ish, it works on almost anything including .zips

ElectricSheep Best screensaver ever. I'd had it on all my computers since '04

[Ninjarr]

iTunes? Really? No.

Foobar2000 plox.

Also, VLC for movies /nod

[Tyen]

vlc
sabnzbd
isobuster
blackberry desktop manager
winrar
skype
trillian
ventrilo
mIrc
Microsoft office
adobe photoshop
adobe premiere
adobe dreamweaver
adobe flash
maya 2008
firefox 3
putty
Nero
Invoice maker

[Soriak]

7zip as an Alternative to WinRAR. It's open source and has a better compression format than winRAR. (.7z files) Downside is that you can only unpack RARs, you can't make them. (proprietary format)

For a Calendar, you could use Mozilla Thunderbird or Google Calendar.

For Desktops: Either BOINC or Folding@home. The former takes less time to set up on multi-core systems, but if you have a newish computer you can use Folding@Home's SMP client. It's in early beta, but is a true multi-core application and will give a ton of points (and gets a lot of work done)

[Gigfc]

CCleaner - Home is nice.

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!

[Kevincheese]

Not so much saying these are "must have", but *I* always have them right away.

K-Lite codecs
Open Office
Mediamonkey
Picasa
Ventrilo
Trillian
Alcohol 120%
BitTornado
Nero
IRFANVIEW <-- this one you must have
Winrar (can open 7zip, btw)

[Tyen]

This thread is retarded if you put MOVIES than list a bazillion shitty ass programs underneath. It should be MOVIES and then the best piece of software that plays any movie perfectly.

For example:

WRONG~

IM Programs
IM+
Gaim
Aol Instant Messenger
MSN Instant Mesenger
Google Messenger
Jivetalk
Word2u mesenger
omega messenger
Miranda IM

Movies
DivX player
VLC
Quicktime
nero showtime
windows media player


Or

RIGHT~

IM Programs
Trillian....PERIOD

Movies
VLC...PERIOD

[Vinen]

Originally Posted by Tyen

VLC should be the ONLY program you use for music/movies. PERIOD

Torrents are retarded. Sabnzbd + Newzbin, thx.

SABnzbd.org : Home of SABnzbd+, the Full-Auto Newsreader

http://www.newzbin.com/

Never understood peoples obsession with VLC. Outside of playing half downloaded porn I've never found the benefit of using it.

[Kaio]

Not for everyone but if you do a good deal of graphical work or web development on the front end I highly recommend the Adobe Master Collection.

Business can afford it and uh plain old joes can "download" it off the torrents!

The Master Collection includes:

* Adobe InDesign® CS3
* Adobe Photoshop® CS3 Extended
* Adobe Illustrator® CS3
* Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
* Adobe Flash® CS3 Professional
* Adobe Dreamweaver® CS3
* Adobe Fireworks® CS3

* Adobe Contribute®
* Adobe After Effects® CS3 Professional
* Adobe Premiere® Pro CS3
* Adobe Soundbooth® CS3
* Adobe Encore® CS3
* Plus Adobe OnLocation™ CS3 (Windows® only) and Adobe Ultra® CS3 (Windows only)

Thats like everything you need for graphics, flash, pdfs, html, and video, and sound.

[PerritoBites]

Originally Posted by Tyen

This thread is retarded if you put MOVIES than list a bazillion shitty ass programs underneath. It should be MOVIES and then the best piece of software that plays any movie perfectly.

I am sorry, but not everyone has the same opinion on the programs. For example I have VLC, but I only use it as a last resort. I don't like the interface on that program, but the fact that it can most movies is a good enough reason to have it. I am happy with zoom player and just plain old media player. I won't add media player or zoom player to the list because I don't think they are exceptional... just my preference. (although I did post the CCC that includes zoom, but I didnt make an entry for it)

The reason I divided it into sections is so you can pick one from the list I post, depending on your preference. Besides, I don't know all the programs that are being posted, but if it is a program that doesnt add any benefits over what I have on the list, then I won't add it.

Edit:
Also for example Open Office vs Microsoft Office... Office has more features than Open Office, but some people will prefer Open office because it is free.

Edit2: Now if you want to argue why a program should not be part of the list, I am open to opinions and I am willing to change the list. I could also do a Highlights section in each one and post what is best from each one so it is easier to compare.

[Tyen]

Anywayyyy. When I was younger I loved finding new programs and learning it for myself. Kind of like a little hobby if you want to call it.

Programs like, 3d studio, Maya, Lightwave, Premiere, etc that are used in particular lines of work that are very fun to figure out and mess around with.

Does anyone know something I could play with off the top of your head.

[Screamfeeder]

Originally Posted by Tyen

Programs like, 3d studio, Maya, Lightwave, Premiere, etc that are used in particular lines of work that are very fun to figure out and mess around with.

I like how you list three awesome 3D programs and one really shitty keyer/editor.

Get Modo, combustion, and if you have a camera, Boujou bullet. Kiksar got me hooked on modo and I have been using combustion and BB for a bunch of my own little composites.


EDIT- here are some "MUST HAVES" you guys forgot about...

• WINDOWS HOTFIX 846756756 Proxy server settings are not set correctly in Internet Explorer after you download a proxy script that uses chunk encoding
  
• WINDOWS HOTFIX 834563563 Office 2003 and 2007 Office documents open read-only in Internet Explorer
  
• WINDOWS HOTFIX 834576784 FIX: Internet Explorer may stop responding when you set the "display" style for the DIV HTML element to "none"
  
• WINDOWS HOTFIX 835636755 Power consumption increases when you run a WPF-based program that runs an animation in Windows Vista
  
• WINDOWS HOTFIX 812325636 MS07-017: Vulnerability in GDI could allow remote code execution
  
• WINDOWS HOTFIX 835636747 A Windows Vista-based computer stops responding when you resume the computer from hibernation
  
• WINDOWS HOTFIX 812347789 SATA optical drives are not available after you start a Windows Vista-based computer
  
• WINDOWS HOTFIX 893562856 An access violation occurs when you start Windows Vista from a Windows PE 2.0 image by using the flat file boot method
  
• WINDOWS HOTFIX 905624667 When you connect a PCI ExpressCard device to a portable Windows Vista-based computer, the device may not work correctly
  
• WINDOWS HOTFIX 894686356 A high definition audio device may no longer work after you resume Windows Vista from hibernation or from sleep
  
• WINDOWS HOTFIX 858958946 Your computer is on fire...Put it out

[Bellstian]

I would say RivaTuner is pretty essential, even if you don't overclock any hardware it's useful to control your fan speeds. Especially for video cards, my 8800gtx fan was only at 1600rpm default and ran around 55-57C idle, you can pump it up to 2800rpm and idle around 48C and i've never seen it go past 62C on full load.