- Ad-Aware – I don’t need to give this program any real kudos or description as it’s a common name on the internet. If you happen to be a Luddite or have somehow avoided hearing of this program it’s simple: Ad-Aware is a spy-ware/ad-ware/mal-ware removal tool. Does a fine job for what it is. I still have Ad-Aware SE, though that’s only because I’m not impressed with the new version and how they removed some functions from it. I’m pretty sure SE will be unsupported soon.
- AVG Anti-virus – Again, I shouldn’t need to talk about this program as it’s everywhere. This is a free version of Grisoft’s Anti-virus program. I like it, though it’s active scan is pretty processor heavy. I know there are options to turn down the footprint on it, but I’d rather my scan not take 12 hours to complete. They also have an anti-spam tool (much like Ad-aware) but that program bugs the hell out of me (large, bulky/overly 2.0 and not all that intuitive) which I’m staying away from. The Anti-virus is great though. No faults that I can see.
- CCleaner – This program basically is the Windows Cleanup tool done right. It scans your computer for useless files, temp files, and otherwise dead space that can be freed up. It also does registry cleaning and can clean out things such as cookies, history, and certain windows internal lists. I run it every once in a while to clean things up. A great download.
- Daemon Tools – For those of us that like to mount DVD images, this program is pretty much a standard. It’s easy to use, effective, and is utterly free. For a mounting software, this is a very happy bonus. It has great features that allow you to run your mounting system up to different modes, should you wish it.
- EditPlus – A classic language editor. By now it’s a bit dated and not the most advanced program on the internet, this program is basically Notepad on steroids. It comes with syntax highlighting and quick text (if you download the correct syntax files). I’ve used it since I was in college and can give credit to Bart for showing it to me. I’m still using this over Komodo Edit simply because I’m to lazy to really start trying Komodo Edit. If I make the switch, then Komodo can go on next years official list.
- Firefox - I don’t even know why I put this on the list because in all honesty this should be pretty much standard. I know there are variations like Firefox Wonder and a billion add-ons for it and so I’m just going to leave this one alone. A million websites can describe it better then I. The short of it: better than Internet Explorer. Please don’t bother to flame me on this.
- Firebug and IE Developer Toolbar – The same tool for different browsers. It basically allows the user to crawl and manipulate the page in real time, which can be a huge life saver when you need to brand certain products, or are developing a new layout from scratch. I have both installed to make my life easier when changing things on the site or if I’m curious as to how someone managed something with their layout. Both are free and worth investing if you do any web development.
- SmartFTP Client – If there is anyone out there that still uses Windows as their FTP program (I was guilty of this for far, far too long), fear not! This FTP program is simple to use, handles everything you could possibly expect, easy to navigate, and free. Sure it will assault you with “Buy Me” messages on boot, but other then that it’s perfect. I don’t know how I managed without it.
- Stickies for Windows – Why have sticky notes cluttering your screen when you can have virtual sticky notes scattered all over your desktop. This works much like the Macs sticky note function and not much else. It allows you to pick sticky note colour, transparency, and font. You can also pin the stickies so they’ll show up on top of every other window. Simple and useful, It’s probably the most used program on my computer.
- uTorrent – There are a variety of torrent programs and this was my personal favorite. It’s simple to use and displays all the information you could need.It’s got a clean, easy to use layout and even has an integrated (and ad-stapled) search functionality that allows you to fire off searches without actually opening your browser (it does it for you).
- Visual Color Picker – The be all and end all of colour pickers. It comes with an eye-dropper tool for live picking, a magnifier, and the ability to switch between every colour mode on the planet and play with all the levels that exist therein. Returns the values in any format you could dream of.
And there you have it ladies and gentlemen.There are certain programs that didn’t quite make the list include SequoiaView, ArtRage 2, WinRAR (I honestly didn’t bother. I don’t think it does any better than winZip, I’ve just used it for so long), Komodo Edit, and Last.fm. They didn’t make it for varying reasons, but I’m still giving them the honourable mention here. I really hope someone gets something useful out of this.
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