Useful Software
The amount of software available online today is astounding. There are some that I think are either essential or very good to have. The list below is what I recommend.
7-zip:
First on my list is something that you can do natively in Windows but this piece of software is just so much better.
Basically with 7-zip you can extract and compress files in various file types. A major pro for me is that it has its own section in your right click context menu.
I use this feature 99% of the time I’m extracting folders or files. Not only can you extract .zip files but other file types like .7z and .rar
You can use 7-zip on Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP and there is even a command line version for Linux/Unix.
A very versatile, open source, and free software to all your zipping and unzipping needs.
VLC Media Player:
VLC Media Player is exactly what it sounds like, it’s simply a media player that can play all types of video and audio file types. The reason I recommend this is because of the great compatibility for file types. VLC can play MPEG (ES,PS,TS,PVA,MP3), AVI, ASF / WMV / WMA, MP4 / MOV / 3GP, OGG / OGM / Annodex, Matroska (MKV), Real, WAV (including DTS), Raw Audio: DTS, AAC, AC3/A52, Raw DV, FLAC, FLV (Flash), MXF, Nut, Standard MIDI / SMF, Creative™ Voice.
VLC is also open source which is a plus. It can even act as a media streamer and pseudo server to stream video or audio to another device on the same network.
Just an all around great player that has apps on Windows, Mac, mobile, and even game consoles like Xbox and Playstation.
CPUID HWMonitor:
CPUID is one for more of troubleshooting and slightly more advanced users. This software offers the ability to see real time temperatures, speeds, and voltages of your PC components.
This is great for when you may be having trouble with your PC over heating or shutting down randomly. You can check vital parts for any issues that may be present.
You can check to make sure fans are spinning at the correct RPM, if you hard drive is clocking in at the correct speeds and if your graphics card is operating at a good temperature. All in real time.
This is a great tool for troubleshooting and just viewing all the stats on your PC.
Notepad ++
Notepad ++ is exactly what you think it is. Just a better notepad.
This is tiered more toward the coders out there but is still a great tool to use for anyone. It can open all sorts of text file types but most notably .html, .php and other web programming file types.
2 of the nicest features are being able to open text files up to 2GB in size, (the maximum size in Windows Notepad is 58MB). and that you can have multiple tabs open like in a browser.
Notepad++ is an amped version of notepad that is worth downloading for the tabs alone.
Thanks for reading - M
