Software for Windows

The software mentioned here is currently being used by myself. In no way is this list meant to be a recommendation of anything. I did my own reviews, listened to other folks, and finally picked something. If I continue to use it, I figure it is good enough for me. I like having this list because it helps me remember the names of infrequently used software. And now I can tell people to go see what I use! 🙂

I’m just listing things now, will add descriptions later.

Click on a link to skip forward to a special list.

Utility

      • A simple text editor. This is usually the first program I install on a new computer. Small, lite, excellent for plain text files. Some of my respected friends moved on to UltraEdit, but I never felt the need. TextPad has all I want.

      • This software connects 2 or more computers so they can share one keyboard and mouse. I have a desktop and a laptop that often times set side by side. When I am using both, I like to just use the desktop keyboard/mouse to run both machines. It saves so much time, and is much easier on my neck and shoulders! Sometimes it is tricky to set up. But it is worth the effort if you have the need! Highly recommended.

      • This is the original ZIP program. PK stands for Phil Katz, the author (now deceased) of the program. Compress files, combine files into one package, and, of course, encrypt data. Excellent. I use the encryption feature to protect my password file! Highly recommended.

      • Useful when needed.

      • OCR means Optical Character Recognition. Use this to convert PDF snips into text or DOC files. Useful when needed.

      • The online web site converts almost any file from one format to almost any other format. For occasional use, this service is free. Use this to convert PDF files into editable DOC files. Useful when needed.

      • Useful when needed.

      • Useful when needed.

      • Useful when needed.

      • Useful when needed.

      • The Bullzip company has many products, the one I love is the PDF Printer. This is not a replacement for Adobe Reader nor Acrobat. It is just a “printer driver” that creates PDFs from where ever you can print, inside your browser, from Word, Excel, etc.. Their products are all shareware. The PDF Printer is advertised as free for personal use, so please honor this idea. If you install this throughout your company, be sure to pay for it (even if your company is small). The PDF Printer is just that: an alternate printer. It is useful when you want to print to PDF to save or send to others.

      • Required for the iPods and iPads in our family.

      • Create, copy, etc. CDs and DVDs. Useful when needed.

      • Deep erase hard-drives (but not SSD). Burn the ISO to CD, then use autonuke. Useful when needed.

      • Remote Access, Control or Repair a remote computer. Free for personal use. Used at my FHC. Useful when needed.

      • I have to mention the Windows 7 Snipping Tool! Is is a great little screen scraper that will take a picture (JPG) of your current screen. Very useful when needed. I keep the icon for this in our Toolbar so it is handy whenever I need it. You can save pictures of pictures, of bugs, of text out of emails, etc. The image goes into the Clipboard, so a ctrl-V will save the image into Word (what-ever) without first saving to a file.  Useful for quick cut-n-pasting.  Or simply save to a JPEG for uploading into your blog! I’m happy to hear it has been included in Windows 10.

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Video/Graphics/Music

      • Excellent but heavy learning curve. Useful when needed.

      • Avidemux is a video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF. Useful when needed.

      • HandBrake is an opensource video converter program intended to both rip and convert video files to work on a number of supported devices. I use it to get movies from one of my cameras into a format suitable for our iPads. Useful when needed. (AVI to MP4)

      • VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. Useful when needed.

      • YtMp3 is a free online web site that records MP3 files from YouTube. Simple, no registration required. Useful when needed. Peggo turned dark

      • This web site has thousands of ringtones and wallpapers for your intelligent phones. Free. Download and install. Useful when needed.

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Protection from viruses and malware

      • Run once a month. Highly recommended.

      • Run once a month. Highly Recommended.

      • Scary to run. The ultimate, but only use when nothing else works. If this fails, take it to the shop! Please, if you want to use this, only download it from BleepingComputer.com.

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Backup software

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Genealogical software

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General Office software

      • Highly recommended.

      • Highly Recommended.

      • Highly recommended.

      • Highly Recommended.

      • I love it, but can’t afford it at home. Highly Recommended for graphical drawings. I am looking for a low cost equivalent.

      • Finally. This looks like a reasonable alternative to Viseo! It’s free for small docs, $4.99/month for regular stuff. At $60 per year, this isn’t bad for a good charting program. Check it out before you buy.

      • Highly Recommended as a free replacement for the expensive Microsoft suite.

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