Microsoft Windows PC Software In Use By Task
PC Tasks (Microsoft Windows Based)
This section lists the software in use by TASK. In other words, what software do I use for a specific task.
| Category | Task | Product | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audio | Convert MIDI tunes to WAV/MP3 & Edit WAV/MP3 | Audacity (used with any MIDI player) | |
| Audacity is cross-platform and free and can be downloaded from SourceForge. Uses LAME for recording MP3. Also use Audacity for general waveform editing, it will even take some VST plugins. sndrec32.exe (comes with all versions of Windows) can also be used but it only seems to record a maximum of 60 seconds. In either case, use the "Volume" applet and change to recording settings and select "Stereo Out" as the sound source. Sound recorder will then record anything being played by the speakers. | |||
| Audio | Convert WAV to MP3 | LAME | |
| LAME is available for several platforms including Windows. The basic application is command line only but various tools use the libraries and "Wav2MP3 Wizard" (on SourceForge) is a Windows GUI frontend for LAME. LAME is easy to use once you understand the basics of MP3 formats (there are good help files) and produces excellent quality. | |||
| Audio | Music Player & Transcoder | QCD | |
| General purpose music player. Recent versions allow recording of most things that QCD can play (CD, MP3, WAV, etc) in WAV, MP3, and some other formats. Great tool, much prefer it to WinAmp (QCD can use some WinAmp plugins too). | |||
| Audio | Score (Music Notation) Editing/Printing | Noteworthy Composor | |
| Excellent music score editor and not too expensive. Works well but it's major shortcoming is the lack of any import/export for more open score formats. I have never managed to even print to Adobe Acrobat successfully. You can export to MIDI but this looses lyrics and much other information. Use the same process as for converting MIDI files to record to WAV or MP3. | |||
| CD | Capture CD image to ISO file | ||
| CD | Write ISO Files (& backup DVD's) | DVD Decrypter | |
|
Simple, handy tool will write an ISO file (or similar) to CDR. Will also create a backup copy of a DVD | |||
| Ahead Nero 5.5 will also burn ISO images to CD (see menu File\Burn Image...) | |||
| CD | Write to CD/Copy/Duplicate CD | Nero Burning ROM | |
|
Full price is much higher than this but it can be obtained cheaply if you shop around. Windows/XP has a CD writing capability built in but it is no where near as usable as Nero. | |||
| Note that Linux has tools almost as good as Nero which are free. | |||
| Finance | Budgeting and tracking | ||
| Use a spreadsheet rather than an expensive and difficult to use package. It's pretty easy to set up a budget page just tracking major categories, update it once a month. It doesn't need to be totally accurate but the less spare cash you have, the more accurate you should try to make it. | |||
| Finance | UK Income Tax Return (Self Assessment) | SA2000 | |
| A simple, spreadsheet (Excel) based solution that is the equal of the more expensive products. Includes ALL of the main sections of the return, more than most of the other similar products. Even better, it is free to download and use, simply plug the appropriate figures in and then copy the results to your paper (or Internet) return. However, for UKP7.50 you can unlock the print facility which will produce a printed, authorised copy of your return plus the calculation sheets and some summaries. The same fee also allows you to file the return directly over the Internet (provided you have a login with the Inland Revenue). Save yourself lots of time and hastle, and money, by using this software! NOTE: Leave several months for setting up an account for online filing via the Government Gateway, it can be a painful process. | |||
| Graphics | Annotation of camera images (jpeg) | ||
Must have:
| |||
| ? | |||
|
ThumbsPlus - $49.95 (Free with cover disk) + Supports IPTC "Contact" field, creates searchable database - IPTC info not in normal categories, sometimes loses < XnView - No support for "contact" field, actually CLEARS the contact field!!!!, adds spurious chars to end of some fields + Cross platform Irfanview + Free, lots of processing options (most via plugins) - Basic interface, limited IPTC info, IPTC info not in normal categories, cant edit IPTC data for >1 image Exifer + Insert watermark, extensive IPTC info, can save info, can load info from template - No "contact" feild support IPTCExt 1.1 - Explorer Extension + Easy access, most fields supported - No "contact" field support BreazeBrowser - $49.95 | |||
| Graphics | Batch editing, conversion, etc. of images | ImageMagick | |
|
For raw power and "batchability" this is hard to beat. Also supports a great many image types. See here for some additional examples of use. Here for a load in additional information. And here for a useful tutorial. | |||
| Graphics | Bitmap Image Editor | The GIMP | |
| Great graphics/image processing application. Though not quite as powerful or easy to use as Adobe, it doesn't cost UKP500! More than powerful for most use and not too tricky to use. Also get the LZW compression library (available separately due to license issues) so that GIMP can save GIF files. | |||
| Graphics | Edit PNG (Portable Network Graphics) files | ||
| Use the GIMP | |||
| Graphics | Edit SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) files | Inkscape | |
|
Inkscape is a fork of the (also free) application, Sodipodi. Simple but nice SVG vector graphics editor which is shaping up to be a powerful tool. Gives an outline, text based view of the picture as well as a graphical view making it very good for learning about SVG. | |||
| There is a tiny SVG editor called EVE which may be worth a look. | |||
| Graphics | Edit WMF (Windows MetaFile) files | ||
| Use OpenOffice.org | |||
| Graphics | High quality photographic scanning | Vuescan | |
|
Gives full control over the scanning process and allows much higher
quality scans than vendor supplied software. Mainly used for film
scanners but now also supports many flatbed scanners too. Purchasing a license gives you perpetual access to updates and the license code works with VuePrint as well. Support can be found at the comp.periphs.scanners newsgroup | |||
| Graphics | Video Editor | ||
| Still looking for the best on both Windows and Linux that do not cost the earth. | |||
| Office | Email Viewing | Pocketknife Peek | |
| A tool for MS Outlook which allows you to open an email an look at all headers and content without any risk. Use for checking out probable spam. | |||
| Office | Information gathering and reading | iSilo | |
| Must support images and html tables. | |||
| No longer in regular use, replaced by Plucker. Used to view websites offline. Can convert images too. Use the free iSiloX desktop to convert documents. | |||
| Office | Information gathering and reading | Plucker | |
| Used to view websites offline. This has now replaced iSilo since the JPluckX desktop tool has been released. This is far easier to use than the old Plucker desktop (which required Python to be installed - or was it Perl?). It can also convert RSS news feeds. It also includes a Palm tool which captures links saved from within Plucker and converts them on the next hotsync. | |||
| Office | Internet Email and News | Mozilla Thunderbird | |
| Excellent, free mail and news client. Supports multiple personalities, multiple accounts, POP3, IMAP4, NNTP. Still has one or two bugs being only at version 0.6 but is perfectly useable. Good replacement for Microsoft Outlook Express and one of the few packages worth considering as a replacement for Turnpike's multiple personality support. Support can be found in the forums. | |||
| Thunderbird and Mozilla Mail are now pretty much the same application though I prefer the interface on Thunderbird. | |||
| Office | Outliner/Mind Mapping | FreeMind | |
| A nice little mindmapping tool which does all of the basics though it is still a little unpolished. It would be nice to have a Palm version too but better mindmapping tools are very expensive (USD60+). The data is stored in XML so it is possible to write tools to transfer and manipulate it (e.g. with ShadowPlan which I have done). There is a support forum on Sourceforge | |||
| Office | Outliner/To Do/Lists | ShadowPlan | |
|
Used to maintain all sorts of lists from Books and videos through shopping lists to To-Do lists for managing projects. Main application for this is on the Palm, the two applications automatically synchronise. Can link tasks with the Palm To-Do app. On the desktop, the data is stored in XML format so it should be possible to write tools to swap and manipulate it (e.g. integration with FreeMind). Has a very responsive developer and support discussion group. | |||
| Bonsai, ThoughtManager, LifeBalance, BrainForest. Bonsai is probably the closest, it is more expensive (to maintain as well as to buy), has a better desktop (as of June/2004) but is nowhere near as feature rich on the handheld. | |||
| Office | Printing | FinePrint | |
|
| |||
|
Excellent printing support tool. Allows multi-pages per sheet and even booklet printing, manual duplex and many other features. Updates seem to be mainly free of charge (maybe not for major releases?). | |||
|
| |||
| Office | Read/Send Email & News | Turnpike | |
| Must be able to handle multiple email addresses in more than 1 domain. Should be able to associate both addresses and templates with a specific folder. Should be able to handle HTML based email (edit and recieve). Internet news should be integrated. Should be able to annotate emails. | |||
| NO LONGER IN USE. It isn't going to get updated and I've had license troubles that I can't be bothered to fix. Replaced by Mozilla Thunderbird. Internet Email and News application I use for personal email. Very good support for multiple addresses (e.g. an email name fred@acme.com or jim@acme.com) can be associated with a particular folder so that when sending email it always goes from the correct address). However, it is not a brilliant interface and while its filtering is very powerful, it is very unfriendly to use. Hasn't been updated in a long time and a final bug fix release is due but that will be (officially) the last release. | |||
| Office | Read/Send Email & Time Management | Microsoft Outlook | |
| Must have calendar, to-dos, addresses, memos. Must be able to synchronise calendar,memos,to-dos,addresses with PalmPilot PDAs. Should have integrated email (see separate email task for details of ideal requirements). Ideally should be able to synchronise with other PIM tools via open standards such as iCalendar, XML, etc. Ideally would handle the extra information encoded in note fields by Palm application Datebook5. | |||
| Used for business email because of its integration with tasks/calendars/notes. It has a potentially very powerful scripting interface that is seriously let down by being only partially and poorly implemented. In my opinion, Lotus Notes is a far better tool because of its power, however it is let down by cost and lack of being marketed as a personal tool rather than a large scale corporate one. | |||
| Office | Reading eBooks | PalmReader | |
| I am very concerned at the longevity of the eBook formats. I still read books I brought twenty years ago and there is no reason why my son couldn't be reading them in another twenty. Will the PalmReader (or any other current format) be around that long? | |||
Supported on Palm, Pocket PC, Mac and Windows it has a good range of books available and seems a lot faster than its main rival MobiPocket. The other rival is Adobe Acrobat which is a more widely supported format and whose security can be broken so you can back up the books that you have paid for - however, perhaps for that reason, there are not so many books available. I've found that I am quite happy with reading books on the Palm and it means that I no longer need to upset my wife with yet more books to store somewhere!< Cleverly, PalmReader uses the number of the credit card you used to buy the book as the code to open it (you can change it later online and re-download if you want to). This means that you can read it on ANY number of devices and even lend it out - assuming you trust the person!Note: It is not supported directly under Linux but can supposedly be run using WINE. This again highlights the limitations of eBooks. | |||
| MobiPocket, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Reader. MS Reader is MS ONLY and therefore VERY HIGH RISK as a platform for the longest term. Acrobat is probably the best bet for very long term but is poorly supported, possibly because of its security limitations (it is possible to bypass the security). MobiPocket has the widest platform support (PalmOS, Windows CE, PocketPC, SymbianOs, Franklin eBookMan and Windows as at Jun/2004). However there is no free version. It does allow annotation and allows customisation (fonts, etc.) but you can only read your books on up to three devices!! You have to change the "pid" online so you are totally reliant on the web site where you purchased the book for future use. OK, I had a response from an anonymous source about MobiPocket. Here is the email and my responses (in red): In the following page (http://www.knightnet.org.uk/IT/software/free-software.htm), you say that Mobipocket Reader does not exists as free version. I invite your webmaster to go and read carefully the pages listed below, and update your website. http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/DownLoadReaderStep1.asp http://www.mobipocket.com/en/Support/KBase_article.asp?ArticleID=331 http://www.mobipocket.com/en/Support/KBase_article.asp?ArticleID=26 [JK] Thanks for the info, it is a shame that this information is so well hidden! Moreover, there are more eBooks in Mobipocket format than in Peanut format.[JK] As I acknowledge. Publishers now publish and sell nearly only in Mobipocket format.[JK] Nonsense! There are many thousands of books being published in eReader format. Last but not least, the Palm encryption does not work with the widely used "e-credit-cart" system, where you ask your bank to give you a temporary credit card number for one purchase (because you do not trust the payment system). [JK] Actually it does as the downloaded eBook simply requires the credit card number, it's only a number nothing more. [JK] Your comments still do not get round the fact that you are TOTALLY dependent on the originating web site continuing to operate should you ever change devices more than twice -- this is appalling! I have books that I still re-read after 30-odd years and may well pass to my children, will the originating web site for an eBook still be operating the same system in 30 or 100 years time? I think not. At least with eReader books, I can note the number and pass it on. [JK] Of course, the software probably wont exist in 30-100 years anyway and this is why I will only EVER by low cost books this way, I'll never pay full price for a book in electronic format until I can be sure that it will still be available to me in 30 years time. [JK] Many thanks for your comments though, Jules. | |||
| Office | View and Edit Microsoft Office documents | Documents to Go | |
| Must not loose anything (formatting or features) after editing on the Palm. | |||
|
Allows the viewing and editing of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Unlike similar apps, does not loose any additional formatting and capabilities of a document on the desktop after editing on the Palm. Can now also maintain full native format files (these are larger and slower to use on the Palm but great for backups that can also be edited). Also supports Adobe Acrobat (minus graphics) and will convert images (bmp, gif and jpg) to palm format. Also has a simple email client that will synchronise with Microsoft and Lotus email clients and supports attachements of the types listed above. I also use it to keep backup versions of important documents. Remember though that private documents are wide open if you misplace the Palm, especially on external cards. Don't be fooled by some of the competing products which claim compatability with MS Office. They often loose formatting after being edited on the Palm/PocketPC. | |||
|
| |||
| Office | Web Browser | Mozilla Firefox | |
|
| |||
|
Fast, highly configurable open-source browser - now my default browser. Free at last from many of the security problems caused by Internet Explorer! I only use IE when I really have to now. Note the name change (again) from Firebird to Firefox. | |||
| Firefox and Mozilla Browser share pretty much the same code now - however, I prefer the interface on Firefox. | |||
| Office | Word Processing, spreadsheets, presentations | Microsoft Office | |
| Another necessary evil. MS Office may have more features but OpenOffice is free and does do some things that MS Office doesn't (or does badly). | |||
| Office | Word Processing, spreadsheets, presentations | OpenOffice.org | |
| THE office application for those not wanting to give loads of money to Microsoft. It is generally said to be comparable to Office 97; however it does have some more features and indeed some features that Microsoft Office still doesn't have. I use it when MS Office lets me down (largely because I have to use MS Office for work) but it is more than adequate for most people for all general use, no need to spend a fortune. Supports MS Office formats pretty well too. Check out the macro for creating extended PDF files. Also see this comparison of OOo and MS Word ways of working. | |||
| Reference | Read and Study the Bible | SWORD | |
| Superb free bible study software. The main version is for Windows but there are companion projects for Linux and Mac. There are many "modules" containing lots of different Bible versions, comentaries and dictionaries. | |||
| There is commercial software as good but I'm not sure that there is anything better. | |||
| Security | Anti-Virus | AVG Anti-Virus | |
| Excellent, simple anti-virus tool. Free for simple, home use. Don't forget to regularly (at LEAST weekly) download virus database updates. | |||
| Security | Detect and clean adware and trojans | Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware | |
| These two applications need to be used together as they each find slightly different malware. Ad-Aware can be found at: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ Spybot Search & Destroy can be found at: http://www.safer-networking.org | |||
| Security | Email Filtering | K9 | |
| Must be fairly transparent to use. Must have extremely low false positive rate (ideally 0). Must automatically adapt to changing spam. Must have low false negative rate. Must allow multiple email clients to use it. Must allow easy recategorisation of false positives & negatives. | |||
| Small, fast SPAM analyser. Works as a POP3 proxy with any Windows POP3 based client (including MS Outlook and Outlook Express). This is a really good little utility and saves me no end of grief as I am now getting up to 90% spam on my business email address. I never get false positives with K9 (except maybe one or two in the first week of use before the automatic training really kicks in) and it successfully tags 80-90% of all spam. It is very easy to use and has pretty low overheads too. | |||
| Security | Encrypted notepad | Secret! | |
| Must have: Strong encryption, timeouts, notepad format for free-format storage of information, desktop as well as Palm editing capabilities (and synchronisation). | |||
| Encrypted notepad for storing information safely. There is a desktop version too (at extra cost). Much better than most such applications as it requires no structured input, just stores information in memo type pages so you can keep whatever you want. Rather costly for what it is. | |||
| Security | Personal Firewall | Kerio Personal Firewall | |
|
This is the paid-for version of the software, it reverts to a "free for home use" version after 30 days. When it reverts to the free version some features are disabled (mainly content checking). Here are some additional resources and info links for KPF: Kerio Forum at DSL Reports Version 4 Manuals | |||
| A alternative is Agnitum Outpost which gives about the best security of any of the personal firewalls (a free version is available). I find, though, that Outpost is a little fussy in use and sometimes becomes a pain. | |||
| Utility | Rename files based on meta (e.g. MP3, EXIF) or other info | The Rename | |
| MP3 tags, EXIF/IPTC tags, Regular Expression replace. | |||
| Fantastic free renaming utility, a lifesaver for serious digital image users. All of my camera images are renamed as <date> | |||
| Utility | Search out available Wi-Fi wireless networks | NetStumbler | |
| Useful utility to hunt out wireless networks currently in range. | |||
| Utility | Synchronise PC Clock | Neutron | |
| Another superb little utility from Robin Keir (author of the K9 anti-spam software). Synchronises the PC's clock with a public atomic clock. Just run a startup (place a link in the startup folder). Much better than the built in Windows time synch. | |||
| Video | Tools & Codecs for viewing video and audio | K-Lite Mega Codec Pack (Incl. Quicktime & Real Alternative) | |
| Replacement Quicktime player and Realplayer along with loads of audio/video codecs.
Enables playback of DVD without paid-for codecs (using the provided "Media Player Classic"). Get rid of advert laden Quicktime and Realplayer! | |||
| Web Development | Text & Code Editor | UltraEdit | |
| There may be better editors out there but I've tried a lot and not many come up to UltraEdit's standards and I'm used to it now. It's rather expensive though for what it is. | |||
| Web Development | Web Application Server | EasyPHP | |
| Combination of Apache web server, mySQL database and PHP for Microsoft Windows. Used as the development platform for my web site. Apache 1.3.27, PHP 4.3.3, PHPmyAdmin 2.5.3, mySQL 4.0.15 NOTE: Most distributions of Linux come with these three applications ready for installation, EasyPHP is simply an easy way of managing the installation and operation under Windows. | |||
| Web Development | WYSIWYG Web Page Editor | ||
| Note that you cannot use Mozilla, OpenOffice or Word HTML editing facilities if your HTML is embedded in a PHP page even though the page may be well formed. FrontPage 2003 does, however work OK as it does not try to reformat your documents as older versions did. I'm still looking for a better tool (preferably free) to do this task. It is mainly for editing web pages that use layout such as tables and lists as these are quite hard to read in "raw" HTML. | |||
I also have a list of software that I do not use (because I personally find it not worth the money or effort).
Page: Updated 2008-07-10 08:50:08, Author Julian Knight