Windows Apps I Always End Up Installing

Yeah, I'm forced to use Windows- alot. I don't like it, but what can I do about it?



Anyway, seems like I always end up installing the following:

• PDFCreator - This great piece of free, open source software let's you "print" .pdf files from any MS Windows program that can print. Putting this on your system gives Windows something that has been built into every Mac since 2001.


• Open Office - OpenOffice.org is a free, open source office suite that, for me, can replace Microsoft Office. The latest version supports the new OpenDocument standard in addition to doing a fine job of opening Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.


• FireFox - The free, open source web browser that seems to have fixed their serious memory leakage and cpu cycle hogging problems in OS X is a complete necessity when using MS Windows. Safer than surfing with Internet Explorer, has tabs, and is a more familiar interface than Opera. Download it, install it, forget about IE.


• Spybot Search and Destroy - This is one of the two programs that I run on every Windows PC I have to use to immunize against and eradicate spyware and adware. Although, I usually find it easier to download from here. Also, I can never get it to successfully download it's updates right after installing it, I always have to reboot once first, otherwise all of the checksums fail. Weird.


• AdAware SE Personal Edition - This is the other program that I use to remove spyware and adware. Again, I usually find it easier to download from here. The splash screen says it is free for private use, but I've poured over the license agreement (disclaimer: I am not a lawyer) and I think that they have left it sufficiently vague enough that anyone can really use it. In fact, I checked their website to see if the license agreement for the commerical version was different and it was exactly the same as the one for the personal edition.


• iTunes - Even if you don't own an iPod, iTunes needs to be on your system. It's the best music jukebox made for any desktop computer system, and it's free. Not free as in free speech, but free as in free beer. It will play most non-proprietary media formats (mp3, aac, aiff, wav, ogg- with an add-in), keeps your music files neatly organized, burns custom audio CDs, rips to mp3, aac, or aiff without needing to shell out any additional money (unlike some media players from other companies). Additionally, it is a great way to listen to streaming radio stations.
  
  
• PuTTY
  I can't believe that Windows doesn't come with a real command shell and a built in SSH client. Thank goodness there's PuTTY. Microsoft owes the developers of this freeware gem big time.
  
  
• Launchy
  Launchy is like QuickSilver for Windows. It's a program launcher. That might not sound exciting at first, but once you start using it and realize how it works, you just can't seem to go back to not having it. The default key combo for invoking Launchy is Alt+Space (I changed this to be Ctrl+Space so it could be the same in Windows as it is in OS X on my MacBook Pro). It automatically indexes the items in your Start Menu, so once you invoke it you start typing the first few letters of the thing you want. Like if you want to open Notepad, you type "not" and by the time you get to the "t" Launchy is presenting you with Notepad a as your choice. Press enter and Notepad launches. It's the Windows+R option of opening programs on steroids. It's adaptive and addictive. You have to download it and use it for a little while and then suddenly the lightbulb appears over your head and you realize that this method of launching programs is the closest anyone has come to having the computer read your thoughts. Install Launchy and you'll never be more than 4 keystrokes away from any of your programs again. You'll almost forget what you used to use the QuickLaunch bar for.