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◄ My review: Palm M100 handheld, about a decade on

2009-05-10 📌 Recommended software list, 2009 edition

Tags All Tech

Further down is a list of small portable applications. 


Office, graphics, text
Free office apps: OpenOffice.org | AbiWord | TopOCR | The Font Thing | WordWeb
PDF tools: Bullzip PDF Printer | Foxit Reader | GUIPDFTK | PDF Image Extract
Text editors & note management: jEdit | Notepad++ | NoteTab Light | TreePad Lite
Image management: XnView | IrfanView | CDisplay | ComicRack
Graphics packages: Paint.NET | GIMP | PhotoPlus SE | Inkscape (vector)


Sound, video, burning
CD ripping: Exact Audio Copy + LAME
MP3 tools: RazorLame | MP3Gain | Mp3TagTools | GSpot | MP3AlbumMaker
Audio players & editors: 1by1 | Winamp | mp3DirectCut | CoolEdit96 | Audacity
Disc burning: ImgBurn (data/image) | DeepBurner Free (multisession) | Burrrn (audio)
DVD tools: DVDFab | DVD Shrink | HandBrake | DVD Flick | ImgTool Classic | DVD Styler
Video tools: Avidemux | VirtualDub | SubRip | Subtitle Workshop | AsfTools | Lame ACM
Media players: VLC | Media Player Classic | ProgDVB + GPL MPEG-1/2 Decoder


Browse, chat, online
Security: AVG (antivirus) | Comodo (firewall) | Spyware Terminator
Web development: EasyPHP | FireFTP | MySQL-Front
Browsers: Firefox | Opera | Iron | Internet Explorer Collection | Lynx
Communication: Thunderbird | Skype
Downloading: DownloadEmAll | HTTrack | NetTransport | uTorrent


System utilities
Tray utilities: The Wonderful Icon | SpeedFan | TrayWizard | TClockEx | KatMouse
Security: Password Safe | Cobian Backup | TrueCrypt | Eraser | Sandboxie | TweakUI
File management: 7-Zip | Unlocker | TeraCopy | Bulk Rename Utility | ICE Mirror
            HJSplit | Folder Size | PropertiesPlus | Alcohol 52% Free | WinRAR | Grab Path
Data recovery: PC Inspector File Recovery | Recuva | HxD
Window management: allSnap | VirtuWin | Executor | EndItAll | Sizer | Shutter
Process management: Autoruns | Process Explorer
Drive management: Paragon Hard Disk Manager SE | WD Diagnostics | HD LLF
System maintenance: PageDefrag | O&O Defrag Free | JkDefrag |  CleanAfterMe

Portable applications

Some of these programs don't have homepages or developers any longer, so I've tried to spot places still offering them. Tell me if you find any dead links, and remember it's particularly important to antivirus scan executables from third-party repositories!

Process Explorer (task manager)
ProduKey (recover passwords)
PuTTY (telnet client)
Registry Commander (virus cleanup)
Regmon (see access in real time)
ResHacker (examine executables)
Rootkit Revealer (just in case)
SensorView (check temperatures)
ShootTheMessenger (turn service off)
Shred by AnalogX (simple filer shredder)
Strings (find unicode strings)
Sweep (command line recursion)
Sync (flush filesystem data)
TedNPad (unicode text editor)
ThirdDir (directory synchronisation)
TrueCrypt (store private data safely)
UNPnP (tame SSDP)
UPX (compress executables)
UnitConverter (what it says)
Unstoppable Copier (worth a try)
utorrent (basic torrent app)
VCdControlTool (mount ISO images)
ViewAllWindows (show hidden windows)
WackGet (download manager)
Windows 98 generic USB flash driver
WinIPs (set hardware IPs)
Wizmo (create force kill shortcuts)
WNTIPCFG (show IP config)
WS_FTP95 (basic FTP client)
XnView (image browser and effects)
XPDite (minor XP-SP1 fix)
YACalc (evaluate expressions)
XCSV (checksums to compare files)
XVI32 (hex editor)

1by1 (play MP3s, accepts plugins)
AF7 Merge (splice text files)
AF9 Replace (binary-safe batch replace)
AriskKey (recover passwords)
AutoRuns (enumerate startup tasks)
BurnCDCC (burn ISO images)
CD Reader (plugin to use with 1by1)
CDex (rip CDs + convert MP3/WAV)
Contig (basic defrag for NT)
Copier [0X Copy Machine] (scan + print)
CWShredder (clean spyware)
DComBob (tame DCOM)
DeskPins (windows on top)
DirLister (make quick file lists)
Discover (force windows onscreen)
DupeLocater (find and clean)
Easy ISO Creator (use with BurnCDCC)
Filemon (see access in real time)
FileRecovery [PC Inspector] (undelete)
FolderSize (graphical space use)
FoxitReader (read PDFs)
GUIPDFTK (split/join PDFs)
HDTune (check harddrive integrity)
HijackThis (find spyware)
HJSplit (split/join files)
Identify_Boards (identify hardware)
KatMouse installer (due to MS drivers)
LCISOCreator (make ISO image from CD)
Leaktest (test firewall)
Media Checker (verify files on media)
MultiRes (change res + force refresh)
Multi Timer (stopwatch)
NoteTab Light (text editor)
NTest (test monitor setup)

Most apps can be usefully compressed with UPX, but don't try this on RootkitRevealer, KatMouse or Shred, as they seem to verify file checksums. I've retired WinImp in favour of 7-Zip Portable (and tend to include VLC on thumbdrives too) but you might want it in order to keep filesizes down to fit on, say, a 32Mb drive.

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