Geekery
2008 June 9
Stuff I’ve added to the computer recently:
- Pronounce Firefox extension (I am a bit of a word nerd). Highlight a word, right click, select “pronounce,” and the voice pronounces it correctly for you. SWEET!
- RocketDock. I like this Mac-like desktop tool. I still keep the old QuickLaunch toolbar downstairs for the best of both worlds.
- NetVibes start page. I think I like it better than iGoogle.
- Some perennial standbys – Paint.NET, Exact Audio Copy, OOo (haven’t upgraded to OOo 3 Beta yet and I may not until RC1), Firefox (FF3 release candidate), AVG antivirus (got rid of the “free trial” of Norton and now the computer runs faster), CCleaner (absolutely essential).
- On the XP machine at home (which we bought when XP was brand new, so it’s pretty old and slow and clogged up) I installed a CrystalXP Bricopack that adds some Vista-like eye candy with nearly no use of resources. Much better than the Fisher-Price XP interface.
What are your essential downloads, installs, and other interesting geeky things?
Here are a few of my usual suspects:
Spybot Search & Destroy – A fine Anti-Spyware program, just don’t install the “tea-timer” option unless you want to double those “is this ok” dialog boxes every time you try to do anything.
The Gimp – the best, if not the easiest or most intuitive to use, free PhotoShop alternative. (paint.net is easier to use, but not as powerful).
AMP Font Viewer – A handy utility that you never think about needing, until you try it a few times & realize that you can’t live without it! Especially if you make fliers, posters, bulletins, newsletters…
Jzip (or 7zip – same base code / different GUI) – good file archive program that handles all of the major compression schemes that a normal user should ever need.
Have you tried GimpShop?
No I haven’t – it’s supposed to more PhotoShop-like, and I really should check it out – I just haven’t done it… yet.