Essential Apps

The genesis of this page is “The Current Essential Apps List” post in which I discuss a handful of applications that’ll show up on pretty much any install I do for myself. The purpose of this particular page is to list out all the other applications that I tend to install over and over again and that have stood up well to my abuses.

Most of these applications are free or have free versions.

First, start by reviewing “Essential Apps” to get a handle on why I use and suggest Evernote, Dropbox, Firefox, Paint.NET and Digsby. Now, in no particular order, here are the rest.

[12/21/2009 update: I'm no longer suggesting Digsby...]

Browsers

I already mentioned Firefox above, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the add-ons as well, right?

  • Adblock Plus – Block all the ads and banners.
  • glasser logo Glasser – For the Vista and Windows 7 machines, this helps Firefox visually blend in a bit better with the OS. (pay attention to what version of Firefox you have and get the correspondingly correct Glasser version.)
  • Google Toolbar — *gasp* I know, I know… a toolbar?!? Among other helpful features this is how I sync my bookmarks across machines and browsers (works with IE too).
  • LogMeIn plugin – I use LogMeIn for remote access frequently at work and home and this plugin helps streamline things a lot.
  • NoScript – Security. I tend to run it with scripts globally allowed (not the safe way to play!) but even so, it still helps catch the XSS attacks.
  • VeriSign’s OpenID Seatbelt – I use a VeriSign service as my OpenID provider and this plugin helps streamline the authentication aspects.

If I’m going to be doing any web development on the machine, I’ll add some or all of these as well:

Is it all about Firefox for me? No, not really. More and more lately I find myself using the Google Chrome browser as well (especially since the 2.x release).

I used to have Opera on every machine but not as often these days… the competition has largely caught up and sometimes it seems as the Opera lost their script. But if I’m developing sites, it’ll be there for testing along with Safari for Windows.

Utilities

  • 7-Zip – IMHO, the best and fastest compression utility.
  • Foxit Reader – PDF reader.
  • Launchy – I can’t have an XP machine without Launchy. Vista and Win7 you can just use the win-key for similar functionality, but this one is “must have” for XP.
  • Synergy – I usually have a laptop sitting next to a desktop or another laptop. Synergy lets me control both machines from one keyboard and mouse.
  • mRemote logo mRemote – Full featured tabbed communications manager. I use this to run my world at the office. It let’s me access all the servers via RDP or VNC (among others) and helps keep all those remote sessions corralled into a nice and clean tabbed interface.
  • uTorrent – the obligatory BitTorrent client. Easy to use and easy on the resources.
  • ImgBurn – light-weight CD/DVD burning software.

Security

  • Secunia PSI – Personal Software Inspector. The way to keep all your apps current and vulnerability-free.
  • Microsoft Security Essentials — This quickly replaced all the other free/limited AV and Malware tools I used to rely on. The price is right and I’ve been pleased with how it has performed so far.
  • AntiVir / ClamWin – AntiVir on the newer machines, ClamWin on the older ones. I’ve been using both for a couple years now and have had no real complaints.
  • nmap – sometimes it is desirable to have a quick look around…

Development Tools

If the machine will be used for development a lot of the utilities will already be there via what I store as portable apps in Dropbox. However, a few more will be added.

  • Expression Web – This one is not free but is my tool of choice for the larger web projects.
  • SuperPreview for IE – Compare sites with your installed IE7 or IE8 to what they might look like with IE6. Eliminates the hoops to keep IE6 around (*sigh*).
  • Notepad++ – Yeah, it is in the portable apps but if I want the full experience I’ll install it locally. For Windows machines, I think this is the best notepad replacement around.
  • Visual Studio Express editions – your Microsoft development stack, ready to download and go.

Portable Applications

I keep a suite of handy tools in my Dropbox account thus they’re available as soon as Dropbox is installed. Almost all come from PortableApps.com.

Revision History

June 2, 2009 – First version
December 21, 2009 — Updated. Removed Digsby, updated Security section with current choices