The 32 Totally Essential (and Free) Apps for Every New PC

Mooga · 05-14-2009, 02:48 PM

The 32 Totally Essential (and Free) Apps for Every New PC

I found this article very interesting. It's probably more useful to those who don't know as much about the great, free software out there. While I agree with many of their choices, some simply make NO SENSE for the average user.

Also, I simply can't use the GIMP after many years of photoshop usage. And VLC is total shit. (Ya, I hate VLC. Why don't you use a program with a usable and stable GUI?) And while I totally LOVE VMware... why would the average user need VMware server? And why are there like 5 DVD ripping programs?

Hammock · 05-14-2009, 05:56 PM

I liked that list, many of those apps I already knew, but there was a couple I thought interesting that I've never heard of before

Quote:

why would the average user need VMware server?

This list was not put together for your average user. Even at the start they say.

Quote:

We've put together a list of what we think are the most essential PC apps for every Maximum PC reader

People who read PC articles and such aren't generally your "average" user. Other than a couple malware virus things, this is a list of stuff for people interested in going above and beyond every day computer use.

And what's wrong with VLC player? I think it's pretty handy to have, I like the fact that its failure rate at playing movies is like 1% on my machine. Plus I like the fact that it'll play movies only partially downloaded

Mooga · 05-14-2009, 07:04 PM

I missed the part where it explained the audience... woops.
My issues with VLC is strictly the GUI and overall UI. Running in full screen is annoying. Doing simple things like pausing and playing are annoying. Use with multiple screens is buggy as hell.

I LOVE Media Player Classic and the klite codec pack. However, with windows 7 I've been using it's default player with the klite codec pack and I've been VERY impressed. The invisible GUI is AMAZING.

Etzell · 05-14-2009, 07:24 PM

Love VLC. Don't see how pressing spacebar to pause/play is annoying.

Mulchman MM · 05-15-2009, 03:59 AM

not a bad list... love that they have foxit reader; mr beefy turned me on to it back when he joined ff and its so much better than adobe reader

and it's always good seeing foobar2000 getting props

Mooga · 05-15-2009, 04:08 AM

In my grad class we talk for about 10 min about Foxit reader and other PDF alternatives. Adobe reader has PAINFUL load times. Foxit is great!

Bridget · 05-15-2009, 04:15 AM

VLC is good. It's kind of pathetic that I had to go download VLC because Windows Media Player told me I needed to pay them for some bullshit to watch DVDs through WMP. Shouldn't that come standard? Y'think? Did I only pay $250.00 for a more visually attractive start bar and Directx10 support? Anyway, I don't get these problems. VLC runs fine in Full Screen, the GUI works flawlessly. Maybe you all just.. fail?

GIMP is complete shit. I've decided that GIMP stands for "God, I Miss Photoshop". Clever, I know. Don't remind me of my godlike thinking patterns, peon. Every thing in that terrible program is complicated. Want to copy a picture from the internet and use it in gimp? Right click, copy. Open GIMP. File, New. What? I have to .. manually input the image size? It doesn't auto-detect them like Photoshop? You can't even drop a picture into a project as a layer. You have to manually right click the 'pasted layer' and convert it to a standard layer before you can edit it. Well, fuck this. That's just the start of the pain, too.

Notepad ++ also sucks. Oh wow, so you took Notepad and threw in a bunch of completely useless features and illogical shortcut keys while advertising yourself as being 'simple to use'? What a laugh. Want a superior text editor for programming or web development or what have you? VIM, motherfuckers. There's the learning curve, but it's worth it. (If you want a text editor for creative writing or letters or whatever emo-shit you're choking up, use Abiword.)

Then, while you're at it, give up that silly little input bar in Firefox and all that useless filler at the top. Download Vimperator and browse the internet like a real man. I used that shit for an entire week when I had no mouse. I still use it now. It's just that good.

Adobe Reader has fine loading times.
(If your computer wasn't build around the same time early man roamed Earth.)

05-14-2009, 02:48 PM	#1
Mooga Colorless FTW D&A Member Beta Tester Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: A Small Box Affiliations: SRCDS.com Posts Rated Helpful 1 Times	The 32 Totally Essential (and Free) Apps for Every New PC The 32 Totally Essential (and Free) Apps for Every New PC I found this article very interesting. It's probably more useful to those who don't know as much about the great, free software out there. While I agree with many of their choices, some simply make NO SENSE for the average user. Also, I simply can't use the GIMP after many years of photoshop usage. And VLC is total shit. (Ya, I hate VLC. Why don't you use a program with a usable and stable GUI?) And while I totally LOVE VMware... why would the average user need VMware server? And why are there like 5 DVD ripping programs? __________________ ~ Mooga ...w00t? SRCDS.com \| Twitter

05-14-2009, 07:04 PM	#3
Mooga Colorless FTW D&A Member Beta Tester Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: A Small Box Affiliations: SRCDS.com Posts Rated Helpful 1 Times	I missed the part where it explained the audience... woops. My issues with VLC is strictly the GUI and overall UI. Running in full screen is annoying. Doing simple things like pausing and playing are annoying. Use with multiple screens is buggy as hell. I LOVE Media Player Classic and the klite codec pack. However, with windows 7 I've been using it's default player with the klite codec pack and I've been VERY impressed. The invisible GUI is AMAZING. __________________ ~ Mooga ...w00t? SRCDS.com \| Twitter

05-15-2009, 03:59 AM	#5
Mulchman MM Retired FF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Lacey, WA Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	not a bad list... love that they have foxit reader; mr beefy turned me on to it back when he joined ff and its so much better than adobe reader and it's always good seeing foobar2000 getting props __________________ Head of the Orca Revolution (TM)

05-15-2009, 04:08 AM	#6
Mooga Colorless FTW D&A Member Beta Tester Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: A Small Box Affiliations: SRCDS.com Posts Rated Helpful 1 Times	In my grad class we talk for about 10 min about Foxit reader and other PDF alternatives. Adobe reader has PAINFUL load times. Foxit is great! __________________ ~ Mooga ...w00t? SRCDS.com \| Twitter

05-14-2009, 07:24 PM	#4
Etzell D&A Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	Love VLC. Don't see how pressing spacebar to pause/play is annoying.

05-15-2009, 04:15 AM	#7
Bridget Banned Join Date: Sep 2008 Class/Position: Soldier Gametype: AVD Affiliations: TALOS Posts Rated Helpful 5 Times	VLC is good. It's kind of pathetic that I had to go download VLC because Windows Media Player told me I needed to *pay* them for some bullshit to watch DVDs through WMP. Shouldn't that come standard? Y'think? Did I only pay $250.00 for a more visually attractive start bar and Directx10 support? Anyway, I don't get these problems. VLC runs fine in Full Screen, the GUI works flawlessly. Maybe you all just.. fail? GIMP is complete shit. I've decided that GIMP stands for "God, I Miss Photoshop". Clever, I know. Don't remind me of my godlike thinking patterns, peon. Every thing in that terrible program is complicated. Want to copy a picture from the internet and use it in gimp? Right click, copy. Open GIMP. File, New. What? I have to .. manually input the image size? It doesn't auto-detect them like Photoshop? You can't even drop a picture into a project as a layer. You have to manually right click the 'pasted layer' and convert it to a standard layer before you can edit it. Well, fuck this. That's just the start of the pain, too. Notepad ++ also sucks. Oh wow, so you took Notepad and threw in a bunch of completely useless features and illogical shortcut keys while advertising yourself as being 'simple to use'? What a laugh. Want a superior text editor for programming or web development or what have you? VIM, motherfuckers. There's the learning curve, but it's worth it. (If you want a text editor for creative writing or letters or whatever emo-shit you're choking up, use Abiword.) Then, while you're at it, give up that silly little input bar in Firefox and all that useless filler at the top. Download Vimperator and browse the internet like a real man. I used that shit for an entire week when I had no mouse. I still use it now. It's just that good. Adobe Reader has fine loading times. (If your computer wasn't build around the same time early man roamed Earth.)

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)