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Essential Windows 7 Downloads

May 4th, 2010
by Jordon Cooper.
4 comments

New computer means that I get to go through the process of installing new applications as well as some old favorites.  In case you are wondering, here is my list of essential Windows software downloads.

Office and Productivity

  • Open Office (free) with some excellent extensions that are now available.
  • AbiWord (free)  When I write I like a word processor that gets and stays out of my way.
  • Gimpshop (free) Based on Gimp but it has a Photoshop style interface.  It’s not quite Photoshop but it’s not $600 either.
  • Paint.net (free) another wonderful and free photo organizer
  • Picasa (free) Google’s photo organizer.  The nice thing is that allows me to easily backup all of my photos.
  • Microsoft Photo Story (free)
  • Windows Movie Maker and some add ons (free)
  • Windows Live Writer for blogging (free)
  • FreeMind (free) I have started using mind mapping software a while ago and it has helped me organize some things in my mind and also for others.
  • Google Sketchup (free) It’s another software program that isn’t a necessity but I enjoy playing with when I need to create some plans for around the house and or at the cabin.

Internet

Web Design

  • KompoZer (free) In March 2007, KompoZer was featured on Download.com’s round up on the best free alternatives to Adobe CS3, where it was favorably compared to Adobe Dreamweaver.

Utilities

  • CC Cleaner (free) I just started to use this but I like it better than EZ Cleaner.
  • EZ Cleaner (free)
  • PDF Creator (free) Since I use Open Office which does a good job of publishing to PDF, I don’t use this a lot but every once in a while I need a PDF from a different program and this does a great job.
  • Fox It Reader (free) So much faster than Adobe Acrobat that it is ridiculous and should make Adobe ashamed of themselves.
  • AVG Free (free) It does daily updates, is free, and stays out of the way a lot better than other anti virus programs out there.
  • Defraggler (free) I started to use this as I find it faster and more thorough then Windows Defrag.
  • Recuva (free) Wendy and Mark tend to delete things and then empty the Recycle Bin or things like that.  This counters their best efforts.
  • Audacity (free) Basic audio editing
  • Dropbox (free) I love Dropbox.  I have it installed at home, work, and on both laptops.  Instead of always looking for a thumb drive, I transfer up to 2 gigs at a time with Dropbox.  If you aren’t using it, you have no idea how useful this service really is.

Media Players

I do use a bunch of web apps like Gmail (and Google Apps) and Google Reader.

Google Chrome vs Windows 7

Nov 19th, 2009
by Jordon Cooper.
1 comment

Google Chrome OS Screenshot

I awaited the news about Google Chrome OS today with some interest to see if it was going to provide me with some guidance over whether I should finally give up Windows and move to Chrome OS.  The advantages of Chrome can be found in the video below.  It’s faster and really optimized for the web which is cool as I spend probably 90% of my time on the web now.

Windows 7 Screenshot That’s the kicker, I spend probably 90% of my time there but even with my laptop, a netbook, or even my iPod Touch, I spend some pretty critical time offline (click here to see my list of essential Windows applications) and I just can’t myself giving them up, even on a netbook.  Giving up Photoshop (or even Gimp), the Flickr Uploadr, AbiWord, Open Office, or even iTunes isn’t high on my list of priorities.  Yes I keep a lot of my photos and e-mail in the cloud and we are highly reliant on Google Apps at work, I just can’t imagine giving up desktop apps, even on my iPod Touch for the sake of more speed in bootup.  In fact, I wonder if Google OS’s main competition won’t be my desktop or notebook computer but rather the iPhone/iPod Touch from Apple.  Around the house we go days without logging into my computer at home because of the easy and convenience of my iPod Touch.  I can blog, Twitter, and check e-mail from while while reading the New York Times and the Globe and Mail (btw, the Globe and Mail app is WAY BETTER than the New York Times app).  It’s just so much more convenient and so much faster than firing up the old Dell.  Yet at the same time, when I need to get some work done offline, I need that too (like when I am at the lake, on a plane, or in a place that doesn’t have wifi – which even in downtown Saskatoon, there are places that aren’t wifi enabled, despite the best efforts of Saskatchewan Connected!). I will pay for Windows or find a Linux version to run.  Since we are an iPod family, it will probably be Windows for the foreseeable future.