07 Feb 09 Software Picks

Graphics

• CatchColor – Simple system tray app that detects the colour under the mouse cursor in various formats

Internet

• Miranda – Open source, fast, light instant messenger supporting all protocols with a huge library of plugins and customisations
• Opera – Small, fast, full-featured pioneering browser with mail client, ad blocker, news reader, bookmark sync and much more included

Programming

• SciTE – Scintilla Text Editor – Extremely fast and light customisable and extensible text editor with tabbed interface and supporting many languages and tools
• Araxis Merge – File comparison and merging
• AnkhSVN – Subversion integration for Visual Studio
• TeamCity – Continuous Integration / Build Server
• Snippet Compiler – Quickly compile and run C# code fragments
• Zend Studio for Eclipse – PHP IDE
• ReSharper – Visual Studio Add-in for refactoring, programming assistant, code cleanup etc
• Reflector – .NET Assembly decompiler and inspector with lots of available addins
• Dependency Walker – Great free utility for getting a dependency tree for a DLL file

System Maintenance

• CrapCleaner aka CCleaner – Registry cleaner, Startup Programs tool, File cleanup (Recycle Bin, Temp files, browser caches etc)
• Defraggler – Free defragmentation tool
• WinDirStat – Disk usage explorer, with filterable list and graphical views to help determine what’s taking up space
• Recuva – Undelete / File recovery
• ClearType Tuner PowerToy – Tune the appearance of ClearType on your monitor
• TweakUI – Tweak and tune Windows
• Speccy – View detailed system specifications in a clean and fast program

Utility Programs and Alternative Programs

• PDF-XChange Viewer – Light, fast PDF Reader with tabbed interface
• Sysinternal Tools – Suite of system maintenance, monitoring, troubleshooting utilities including alternative Task Manager
• Junction – Symbolic and hard links for NTFS
• Unlocker – Find what files are currently opened by what processes (and force them closed)
• 7-zip – File archiver that supports all the formats you could want (including ISO and RAR)
• TeraCopy – Faster and more reliable Windows file copy/move replacement with pause & resume
• CopyPath Shell Extension – Adds an option on file right click menus to copy the path to the clipboard

Audio and Video

• Media Player Classic Home Cinema – Light, fast, full-featured player
• QT Lite – Free codec to allow you to watch Quicktime video in Media Player Classic or Windows Media Player.
• Real Media Alternative – Free codec to allow you to watch Real Media video in Media Player Classic or Windows Media Player
• GSpot – Video and audio file codec inspector so you can see what codecs a video or audio file is using