Essential Vista apps

L

liam.k.l

n00b
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Messages
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Hey everyone -- I'm about to pick up Vista again after spending the last couple of years on a Mac, and I'm kind of out of the loop when it comes to those "essential" applications that everyone uses, takes for granted, etc. So, why doesn't everyone list their top 5 favorite/most used/most useful apps for Vista, maybe with a one sentence description or link to a description. Can be freeware, shareware, whatever-ware, I just need some ideas! Remember, you aren't recommending programs for me, you're just telling me what you like ;) go!
 
Office 2007 Enterprise
Google Chrome
Media Player Classic - Home Cinema
uTorrent
imgBurn
Daemon Tools
WinRar
 
AVG Free antivirus
ZoneAlarm free firewall
Adobe Acrobat reader
CCleaner
Google Earth
Apple's Safari browser
Irfan View
PhotoScapes
7-Zip
 
winrar
grabit
smartpar
itunes
xfire
WoW
WoW matrix
firefox
utorrent
picasa
 
Firefox
7zip
uTorrent
OpenOffice
Avast
Spyware Blaster
PeerGuardian 2
Driver Cleaner Pro
CD Burner XP
MP3 Tag
dBpoweramp
Songbird
VLC
Soulseek
CCleaner
Process Explorer
 
Kaspersky
MS Office 2007
WinRar
Nero
Zune (well...I own a zune)
IE8
Some defrag program if you like (I like O&O)
Trillian
GAMES :)
 
Compression/Decompression
Get 7Zip instead of WinRAR

Browser
Firefox instead of Chrome/Safari - FF is still king.

Driver cleaning
Driver Sweeper instead of Driver Cleaner - DC is no longer free, guru3d now recommends Driver Sweeper

Music ripping
EAC (Exact Audio Copy) instead of dBpoweramp

Video Playback
Media Player Classic Home Cinema instead of VLC - MPC-HC by far if you will be playing back encoded HD media.

Music Library Organizing/Playback
If you have a rather large music library, get Media Monkey instead of Songbird/iTunes

Image burning/mounting
imgBurn
Daemon Tools

AV
Avira AntiVir is by far and away the best free AV out there, judging by independent AV tests. Don't let anyone tell you different. Install it, forget about it. You will never know its running, and it will keep you safe.

Bittorrent
uTorrent

Photo organization
Picasa

System cleaning
CCleaner
 
criccio said:
Compression/Decompression
Get 7Zip instead of WinRAR

Browser
Firefox instead of Chrome/Safari - FF is still king.

Driver cleaning
Driver Sweeper instead of Driver Cleaner - DC is no longer free, guru3d now recommends Driver Sweeper

Music ripping
EAC (Exact Audio Copy) instead of dBpoweramp

Video Playback
Media Player Classic Home Cinema instead of VLC - MPC-HC by far if you will be playing back encoded HD media.

Music Library Organizing/Playback
If you have a rather large music library, get Media Monkey instead of Songbird/iTunes

Image burning/mounting
imgBurn
Daemon Tools

AV
Avira AntiVir is by far and away the best free AV out there, judging by independent AV tests. Don't let anyone tell you different. Install it, forget about it. You will never know its running, and it will keep you safe.

Bittorrent
uTorrent

Photo organization
Picasa

System cleaning
CCleaner
Click to expand...

I endorse this message. I also add CDBurnerXP for those times where you get something funky (eh, it happens). Add Macrium Reflect to the list for backups and you're in business. All for free.:cool:
 
I like Infra Recorder x64

I also say you do need winrar, not just 7zip. Some .rars that are spanned don't work with 7zip.
 
criccio said:
EAC (Exact Audio Copy) instead of dBpoweramp

If you have a rather large music library, get Media Monkey instead of Songbird/iTunes
Click to expand...

EAC isn't looking too good at all if you deal with SHN files, gotta give the point to dB then

Media Monkey seems to offer pretty interesting features that you need to pay for, I think Songbird's gonna be solid very soon after some more releases. And still free. And its handling like 9000 files for me pretty nicely, only going to get better.

Just points for the OP.
 
On the contrary, NEVER install codec packs. They cause more problems in the long run then they solve. MPC-HC properly setup is all you need.... most of the time.

VLC will take care of everything else.
 
criccio said:
On the contrary, NEVER install codec packs.
Click to expand...
I'd have to agree with this. Codec packs can cause more hassle then they are worth, especially considering they alter configurations for all media players. There are several good, free media playback utilities that handle these chores, all while keeping their hands away from other media players.
 
VLC is the single biggest piece of shit I've ever had the misfortune of installing.

But hey, to each their own. All I know is CCCP works perfectly for me with no issues.
 
criccio said:
On the contrary, NEVER install codec packs. They cause more problems in the long run then they solve. MPC-HC properly setup is all you need.... most of the time.

VLC will take care of everything else.
Click to expand...

I used MPC-HC on my HTPC and it never worked. Screwed up my system so bad that even after I uninstalled it I couldn't play anything.

I do agree about codec packs though and i'm not a fan of VLC.

So I download just the codecs I need and install them one by one. What I end up with is a HTPC that can play any format under the sun.
 
You did something wrong, its as simple as that.

And the comment about VLC.... Your reasoning behind that?

MPC-HC for encoded HD playback, VLC for everything else. Can't go wrong.
 
You think? I have no idea what though. I have downloaded and configured every other codec without issue.
Not that it matters, I have no need of MPC. I have all my HD video playing in media center and WMP with HD offloading to the GPU.

I found VLC to be very unstable. And it's not as precise when clicking on the bar to jump around to various segments of video. WMP is far more precise.
And I have no need for VLC. Like I said, I have all video playing in Media Center as well as WMP.
One player does it all with HD offloading. Can't go wrong with that.
 
criccio said:
You did something wrong, its as simple as that.

And the comment about VLC.... Your reasoning behind that?

MPC-HC for encoded HD playback, VLC for everything else. Can't go wrong.
Click to expand...

VLC trashed my system, to the point I had to reformat. Totally corrupted something along the way. Doesn't really matter, my HTPC is beastly enough to run 1080p movies without having to resort to a subpar player like VLC anyways.
 
This is what i have on my box

firefox
winrar
ccleaner
itunes
nod32
Video Codecs - ffdshow_beta5 & matroskasplitter ( is all you need )
COD4
Xfire
Yahoo Messenger<3
 
JohnnyNapalm said:
VLC trashed my system, to the point I had to reformat. Totally corrupted something along the way. Doesn't really matter, my HTPC is beastly enough to run 1080p movies without having to resort to a subpar player like VLC anyways.
Click to expand...

Isolated incident. I only use VLC for the rare Xvid/DiviX movie. 99% of my media is 720p/1080p h264 video in MKV containers, so MPC-HC with DXVA takes care of it. You go to any forum specializing in playing back HD media, MPC-HC is the player of choice. Its all about flexiblity. In the rare case that a video file doesn't meet DXVA standards, I have MPC-HC set to fallback on CoreAVC. Foolproof system, and no codec packs to be found.
 
I thought I should make a separate post about this. I find it hilarious that discussion over video codecs is about as subjective and diverse as the big AV threads. So many different variations that work for many different people. There will never be a be all/end all. If what you have plays back all your media files to your liking, then that's all that matters. Its when that doesn't happen, then we have a problem.
 
criccio said:
I thought I should make a separate post about this. I find it hilarious that discussion over video codecs is about as subjective and diverse as the big AV threads. So many different variations that work for many different people. There will never be a be all/end all. If what you have plays back all your media files to your liking, then that's all that matters. Its when that doesn't happen, then we have a problem.
Click to expand...

We can agree on that.
 
on my vista machine :

VLC
Nero 8
Google Chrome
Firefox
DVDshrink
winrar
Porn...

Saw that someone had an issue with VLC. I've been using it for ~4 years now or so and never once had a problem with it on my machine or of the machines in which I told people to use it because they didn't have the codecs to play a xvid movie. Not a big fan of installing all the codecs like some others mentioned as well, VLC does just about everything and haven't had any issues.

Also don't run anti virus on any of my 3 PC's and haven't for 6 years, I like it that way.
 
criccio said:
AV
Avira AntiVir is by far and away the best free AV out there, judging by independent AV tests. Don't let anyone tell you different. Install it, forget about it. You will never know its running, and it will keep you safe.
Click to expand...

I agree with your list except this. NOT because it's really good, because it is. I just don't like how you say a person will never know it's running when the damned thing spawns a message after every update telling the user to look into buying their pay-for AV.

It is easily disabled (deny access to avnotify.exe for ALL users). It's still my favorite AV.
 
hehe, forgot about that part. But you are right, that part is easily disabled.
 
Version_3 said:
I agree with your list except this. NOT because it's really good, because it is. I just don't like how you say a person will never know it's running when the damned thing spawns a message after every update telling the user to look into buying their pay-for AV.

It is easily disabled (deny access to avnotify.exe for ALL users). It's still my favorite AV.
Click to expand...

How do you do this? I have been running PC's for years without anti virus (Norton raped my family and murdered my dog long ago and I've been scarred since). I mean I have Windows defender running of course (Vista 64), but want a simple AV app that will never be noticed or get in the way of gaming. EDIT: there are already a lot of threads on this so feel free to ignore this first question (but not the next one :) )


Also, what good free cd/dvd burning app would you guys recommend? One that doesn't have random junk running in the background at all times. Think the Toast Titanium equivalent for PC.
 
Jon55 said:
How do you do this? I have been running PC's for years without anti virus (Norton raped my family and murdered my dog long ago and I've been scarred since). I mean I have Windows defender running of course (Vista 64), but want a simple AV app that will never be noticed or get in the way of gaming.


Also, what good free cd/dvd burning app would you guys recommend? One that doesn't have random junk running in the background at all times. Think the Toast Titanium equivalent for PC.
Click to expand...

imgBurn for ISO's and general data

Burrrn for music
 
Jon55 said:
How do you do this?
.
Click to expand...

find avnotify.exe in the program files install location. Right click it, select properties. Next, click the Security tab. Click the Edit button. Then highlight SYSTEM and check the top check box under deny (the rest should fill in). Do the same for Administrators. Apply the settings and acknowledge any warnings.

Now, the updater cannot fix the permissions and it cannot run the nag-ad.
 
Make sure if you install iTunes uninstall Quicktime and install Quicktime Alternative. That way Quicktime won't infest and take over your system.
 
mystykmax said:
can someone show me how it's "miles ahead"?
Click to expand...

http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/comparatives.html (go here, click the November 2008 Online Results link to get the diagram)

71% rating to 43% percent... seems "miles ahead" to me. :) Of course that's just one week of test results, doesn't show the full month's results as it should (NOD32 won with the Advanced+ rating, the highest and the only product to get it in November, putting them back on top).

But AVG sucks, to put it bluntly, it always has. Now that there's even more than just NOD32 to compare it with, it's really starting to show just how badly it sucks... ;)
 
If 'lil VLC really is the cause of a major issue with your system, you did something wrong.

Avira/Avast...nitpicking. Can't go wrong either way really.

Mopower said:
Make sure if you install iTunes uninstall Quicktime and install Quicktime Alternative. That way Quicktime won't infest and take over your system.
Click to expand...

There are also ways to install Itunes without Quicktime, methods are out there. Can also go with Sharepod, Songbird, other alternatives

And Quicktime isn't as bad as some people would say. .mov and soresam 3 is pretty efficient for animation clips. Looks nice and isn't a ridiculous file size. It also has other playback features that top VLC. And I'm a VLC fan, but fair's fair.
 
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