What software should be on a PC

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Loopy53
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What software should be on a PC

Post by Loopy53 »

What software should be on ones PC? Anything from games to word to things like ventrillo and softimage. Post your ideal must-have-software-on-a-pc list. Heres my basic list
Auslogics disk defrag, thanks marth
CCleaner - again, thanks marth.
steam
x-fire
mass effect series
Any of the battlefield series
CoD if your a CoD fanboy! (me included, but im more of a BF fanboy).
Minecraft
Everything needed for modding SWBF2 including but not limited to softimage, xvi32, the game, the tools, gimp, msh viewer, msh tool ( the one to convert to convert from .msh to .obj ), notepad++ and ZETools.
Word 2010
Powerpoint 2010
Publisher 2010
Excel 2010
Google Chrome

About it for me. Did I miss anything?
Marth8880
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Re: What software should be on a PC

Post by Marth8880 »

Multimedia:

VLC Media Player
Spotify
InfraRecorder
XVID codec
Any Video Converter
Virtual Dub
Audacity
ShareXmod (incredible screenshot utility)


Interwebz:

Google Chrome
Torch Web Browser (Chrome duplicate that can download streaming media)
Dropbox
Google Drive
Mozilla Thunderbird


Gaming:

Steam
Xfire
Origin (it's not nearly as bad as one might think)
Fraps (purchase the license, don't pirate it; it's totally worth it)


Development:

SWBF2 Mod Tools (duuurr don't know what these are heeyuk heeyuk)
Notepad++
GIMP
Autodesk Softimage
Autodesk Mudbox


I probably missed some. Will update this list every now and then maybe. :o
THEWULFMAN
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Re: What software should be on a PC

Post by THEWULFMAN »

Adding on to everything Marth said,

Games:

Thomas Was Alone. Buy it and support Mike Bithell, the sole developer of this amazing game.
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Teancum
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Re: What software should be on a PC

Post by Teancum »

Combined Community Codec Pack -- Has every video/audio codec you'll ever need
Fileseek -- lets you search for text anywhere, even inside files (useful for finding functions in game engines, non-text files, etc)
SnagIt -- great screen capture program that comes with nifty post-capture tools like arrow icons and stuff. Really nice when you need to point out specifics in a screenshot. No more making ugly circles or arrows with Paint.
7-zip -- best free file compression utility out there, and it makes self-extracting (.exe) archives, too. Great for making your big mod a small download, and the exe format means the downloader doesn't need 7-zip installed.
Firefox 18 -- everyone cheers for Chrome, but Firefox has superior plugins and has 'lost weight' in recent releases in that it doesn't take up as much memory as it used to. Also as a web designer/programmer by trade Chrome often renders things much differently than IE and Firefox, meaning some functionality/design choice is lost on the user in Google's baby (though it's getting better with each release).
SpyBot -- Still to this day the best anti-spyware tool out there. No contest.
Unlocker -- Ever had Windows tell you it couldn't delete something because it was in use? Unlocker de-associates the file with the program, allowing you to delete it.
Xmedia Recode -- best video conversion/trimming tool out there. I regularly record gameplay or take things from my TV's DVR and this allows me to recode it in a much more user-friendly format of my choosing while also allowing me to add subtitles and trim the bits out I don't want.

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THEWULFMAN
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Re: What software should be on a PC

Post by THEWULFMAN »

Now how did we forget 7-zip, that is such a must. :o

CCCP, nice name LOL. :funny2:

Yeah I'll swear by Unlocker any day of the week. Spybot, I use it but I don't trust that it's as secure as things could get. But I'm happy with it.
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Re: What software should be on a PC

Post by the best »

A website that compiles a lot of useful programs together would be http://ninite.com.

With this you can pick and choose what you want and it will download a single file that installs everything you checked off. On that website is a list of very useful programs that were mentioned in the other posts, this website just makes the initial installation far easier for what you would like that they have.
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Re: What software should be on a PC

Post by THEWULFMAN »

Ninite looks pretty nice. Personally I'd rather download everything on its own usually since often I want specific versions of that software, but for most people the site should be very handy.
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Re: What software should be on a PC

Post by the best »

Right, it has a lot to choose from, though they seem to stick more to the basics of what an average user needs. If someone needs a few popular programs in a flash it's a great source and makes it very easy.
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Maveritchell
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Re: What software should be on a PC

Post by Maveritchell »

Marth8880 wrote: Fraps (purchase the license, don't pirate it; it's totally worth it)
I had to set up a client with a quick video recording option, and so I did some research - MSI Afterburner's a free program that seems to do as good a job as the Fraps full version, except it's free. It's predominantly used for managing video card features, and so I think it flies under the radar of most people (at least people looking specifically to record video). I set them up with that as a video recording solution, though, and it does a great job. I've tried it on my home machine too, and I think I actually prefer it to Fraps.

Also, everyone here should look at using a compiler for creating self-installing archives. NSIS is the 800-pound gorilla in this area - it's used by a ton of people, and it's simple enough to set up a full installer from just a .zip archive. Inno Setup is another good one (it's one recommended in the "how to set up an installer" tutorial in the modding forum) that I like for setting up a more detailed installer (it's no more capable than NSIS, but it's easier for me to set up a slightly more detailed installer with this).
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Re: What software should be on a PC

Post by Noobasaurus »

This. Yesterday I spent a half hour to an hour trying to look for a free swf editing program, and here it is! My reason for wanting to swf edit was because I wanted to edit some buttons in a game. :P
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