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The minimum of programs you should have to make reasonable use of Windowsaccording to the biased opinion of Klaus Jacobi |
Although I like my MacBook, a lot of my professional work is still performed on computers with a Windows operating system - i.e. either Windows XP or Vista. Actually, the Windows operating system is no that bad. The main problem is rather, that most of the programs that are originally packaged with Windows are lousy (Editor, Paint, Explorer) or an annoyance (Internet Explorer) or both (Media Player). And the most basic programs (like a PDF reader) are still not yet included in the standard package (just perhaps added by the manufacturer, and than usually completely outdated).
BTW, the table is sortable into both directions, just click into any header cell.
| Name | Version | Type | Description | Also under OS X |
Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7-Zip | 4.65 | Open Source | File packing - unpacking program - better than the built-in Windows tool and also better than Winzip | (+) | ***** |
| Adobe Reader | 9.1.3 | freeware | PDF viewer - not my favourite, but certain web applications require Adobe | + | **** |
| Amaya | 11.2 | Open Source | WYSIWYG web authoring tool by the W3C | + | **** |
| AVG free | 8.5 | freeware | Anti-virus software - not as good as the commercial versions, but free | - | **** |
| Avidemux | 2.5.2 | Open Source | Video Editor | + | ***** |
| Bitvise Tunnelier | 4.30 | free for individual use | SSH and SFTP client (SSH file transfer, terminal and tunneling). Has a beautiful interface, is easy to use and maintains very stable connections. | - | ***** |
| BonkEnc | 1.0.14 | Open Source | Audio Encoder / CD ripper | - | **** |
| Dropbox | 0.7.97 | free for file space of 2 GB | Utility for synchronizing files between computers | + | ***** |
| FileZilla Client | 3.3.0 | Open Source | FTP client - allows also SFTP | + | ***** |
| Firefox | 3.6 | Open Source | Web browser - together with the numerous plug-ins simply the best | + | ***** |
| Foxit Reader | 3.0 | freeware | Alternative PDF viewer - much faster than Adobe Acrobat | - | ***** |
| Google Earth | 5.1.x | freeware | No need to explain further | + | ***** |
| Kaspersky Internet Security | 2010 | commercial | Excellent anti-virus software - the price of a subscription per year and computer is just around 12 € (volume discount) | - | ***** |
| Notepad ++ | 5.5.6 | Open Source | Excellent editor - alternative to Window's Notepad | - | ***** |
| Open Office | 3.2 | Open Source | Office package, alternative to Microsoft Office | + | **** |
| Paint.NET | 3.5 | Open Source | Advanced graphics file editor | - | **** |
| PDF Creator | 0.9.8 | Open Source | I am using "Jaws PDF Creator" since years. But for free applications, this one is perhaps currenly the best | - | **** |
| Quick View Plus | 10.0.0 | shareware | File viewer for hundreds of different file types of all categories, including rather rare types | - | **** |
| Skype | 4.1.0.x | freeware | Famous VoIP and chat program | + | ***** |
| Tooble | 0.0.4.13 | freeware | Download and convert videos from Youtube | + | **** |
| Total Commander | 7.50a | shareware | File manager - alternative to Explorer | - | ***** |
| True Crypt | 6.3a | Open Source | File and drive encryption | + | ***** |
| VLC media player | 1.0.5 | Open Source | Very versatile media player | + | ***** |
| Web-Recherche | 3.0.x | shareware | Unique tool to archive web pages | - | ***** |
| XnView | 1.96.5 | freeware | Graphics file viewer and simple editor | (+) | ***** |
Note: (+) means, that the OS X version is much more limited.
status: 14.02.2010
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