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ProgrammersWhat programs do you highly recommend?
[+26] [54] BlairHippo
[2010-09-02 16:39:51]
[ productivity tools ]
[ http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/484] [DELETED]

Your manager came through, and your eight-year-old workstation whose hard drive you've replaced twice and with the cooling fan that sounds like a small commuter jet has been replaced. You have a brand spankin' new machine sitting at your desk, a blank slate eager for your scribbling, and empty vessel waiting for you to start pouring cool stuff into it.

So, what comes next?

In your experience, what are the must-have programs that you need to install before your workstation is ready for your use, regardless of what project you're working on?

Someone should retitle as Must-have Programs... - Moshe
If you can vote and think this is a useful question or it have useful answers below, please vote up. StackExchange sites need votes to build a good community. You can give 30 votes per day, don't waste them. Specially users with high reputation and low counting votes given please read this: meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/393/… - bigown
(1) Shouldn't there be some mention of what you're doing? My answers are likely to be different if the computer is Windows 7 or some Linux distro, and are also likely to be different depending on what I'm working on. - David Thornley
(3) it sounds like a cool question, but after reading "Chrome" and "Firefox" I think its a stupid question (or people answering are not that smart) - 0101
This question is not constructive: "The best subjective questions inspire your peers to share their actual experiences, not just post a mindless one-liner or cartoon in hopes of being rewarded with upvotes for being merely “first.” Sharing an experience takes at least one paragraph; ideally several paragraphs. If I’m asking about how to bake cookies, don’t give me a list of grocery items: milk. butter. vanilla. eggs. There is virtually nothing I can learn from a short, static list of grocery items that make up a recipe." - Mark Trapp
I closed by off-topic because this question is about computer user, not programmer. - bigown
(1) Seriously? A question about making the most of one of a programmer's most important tools is neither constructive nor about programming? Really? - BlairHippo
[+49] [2010-09-02 16:46:01] Fishtoaster

Chrome [1]

[1] http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/landing_chrome.html?hl=en

(3) +1 Best browser, hands down (despite Firefox having more votes.) - Fosco
The only thing I don't enjoy about chrome is it's somewhat lacking extension framework. For instance, I check every few months for something that replicates FF's HTTP Live Headers but I fear it's not possible with chrome's in it's current incarnation. Also, the developer tools don't show ALL http-headers, which really aggravates me. Everything else is solid gold. - user1525
(4) -1 I can live without it. - Peter Turner
(3) Maybe it's the "best browser" for you and 34 other people, Fosco, but (1) that statement is entirely subjective without criteria, and (2) other people would like to or need their browser to have or do things Chrome does not. I will probably it soon, nevertheless (and how is it that programmers, of all people, fall for the new-new-but-immature-technology trap?). - Mark C
*that should say, "I will probably try it soon." - Mark C
(1) -1. I get more crashes daily with Chrome then I get in a year with FF. - Josh K
@Josh: Sounds like an issue with your machine- I use chrome intensively, and can't recall the last crash I got. - Fishtoaster
@Fishtoaster: If it can't perform reliably on 10.6 I don't see a use for it. I might have exaggerated slightly but I can count on at least one Chrome crash per browsing session with almost no FF crashes. - Josh K
@Josh: Working fine on 10.6.4 - Fishtoaster
Firefox just brings more to the table. Chrome is great for non-powerusers and non-programmers though... - Urda
(2) @Urda: I dunno about that. Chrome is fast and has a better UI (in my opinion). Firefox has a much more powerful plugin system, though. I browse normally in chrome, but use Firefox for any front-end web dev, since I have yet to find the equal of things like Firefox and TamperData. - Fishtoaster
(1) @Fishtoaster The latest copies of the Firefox 4 beta are catching up to Chrome speed (But substance & functionality > speed and UI fluff any day). But its only a few seconds difference on all my machines. A few things that I think are deal breakers: The sync on chrome isn't up to speed or capable as the Mozilla Sync platform built into Firefox 4 (addon for older versions), no about:config page (which boggles my mind why Chrome doesn't have that), no Right-Click -> View Background Image menu option (see the complaints here: code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=746). - Urda
(2) -1. Firefox has the advantage of being there for a long time - meaning it's more stable, more well supported, has a bigger community. All these add up to the fact that the most common technical and UI issues have been resolved over the years. Chrome vs Firefox, Gtalk vs Yahoo messenger - I'll take the veteran any day (atleast till the newborn becomes a veteran and surpasses it). - talonx
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[+48] [2010-09-02 16:44:45] Timwi

Firefox [1]

[1] http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

(21) Yes, but + Firebug - Damovisa
(11) And Adblock plus - TheLQ
(4) And GreaseMonkey - tsudot
(1) And Speed Dial. - Simon Brown
(1) And Multilinks. Considered switching to Chrome once but it didn't have a comparable (good) addon so I didn't. - EpsilonVector
And Fastyub ... - systempuntoout
(4) And FlashBlock. - finnw
And Download Statusbar - Aivar
And Dust-Me Selectors - sitepoint.com/dustmeselectors - Heather
And Last Tab Close Button. And Text Link. And XMarks. - talonx
(7) It's nice not being a web developer. ^_^ - Paul Nathan
And Split Browser - Peter Turner
So FF + <jumble of extensions> ? - Chris
Those guys are pulling your leg. You should only install extensions if you absolutely need them. I have found NoScript+Flashblock to be necessary due to poor or malicious web programming (and limited processor power). AdBlock probably still does its job, but it has been a long time since I have manually filtered anything. - Mark C
Also, I was astounded by the difference Search Preview made. I turned it off at one point. Without it, I felt crippled. It was like it had always been there. - Mark C
Also, Lazarus can save your bacon on HTML forms (I found it after I lost a really long message or post one time), but it has some performance issues. I get by without Greasemonkey, but find FastestFox, Fission, and Quick Restart nice enough to have, for example - Mark C
@Chris that top comment was meant for you, but I wasn't clear how the notification system worked back then. - Mark C
No problem, I understood Mark C. I usually have a browser for browsing and browser for developing which will have many more extensions installed. - Chris
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[+26] [2010-09-03 01:20:48] Sergio Acosta

A good visual compare and merge tool.

On Windows: Beyond Compare [1]

Sadly, I haven't found anything as good for OS X.

[1] http://scootersoftware.com/

Why the downvote? This is a great answer. - Nathan Taylor
+1 Merging conflicts - pramodc84
(2) +1 Beyond Compare is may ever favorite tool! - Lorenzo
(1) kaleidoscopeapp.com - Kendall Hopkins
www.araxis.com/merge/ - Araxis Merge for OS X - J8D
(1) @J8D: Araxis is the best one I've seen, but is a lot more expensive ($269 Pro Edition) than Beyond Compare ($50 Pro Edition). - Sergio Acosta
(4) @Kendall: kaleidoscope doesn't even let you edit a diff. Much less merge files. It is pretty, but that's not what I'm looking for. - Sergio Acosta
@Sergio You can edit the sources and the diff will updates, but I know thats not the exact feature you talked about. It's a very new program and is showing a ton of promise :D - Kendall Hopkins
(1) An excellent diff tool is Apple's own, free FileMerge, if only it would handle non-ASCII encodings more gracefully. - deceze
+1 Beyond Compare is a great tool for non-programming tasks too. I simply love this too. There may be some other mergers with more features, but as far as being productive and easy to use it really can't be beat, and has a great price! - Jim McKeeth
Very cool looking, but unfortunately, the bad integration with TortoiseCVS is a deal breaker. I found that when diffing a changed file against the repository, I can only have multiple comparisons up if they're all in the same directory. If I try another comparison in a different directory, it will fail if I don't close-out the first. Nifty option, but I'll stick with WinMerge. - BlairHippo
Meh. Git does all the merging I ever have to. Every once in a long while I get a conflict, but it's typically a line or two, so there's no point to a visual merge tool for me. - Inaimathi
(1) Winmerge works great and is free (OSS). - MGOwen
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[+23] [2010-09-02 20:51:59] Simon Brown

Paint.NET [1]

[1] http://www.getpaint.net/

4
[+16] [2010-09-02 16:53:36] Chinmay Kanchi

All platforms:

Windows:

  • GNUWin32 [7] (Gives you, among other things, grep, *NIX find, sed, head, tail, cat and most of the other tools that you use to make life at the command-line bearable)
  • PowerShell [8]
[1] http://www.vim.org/
[2] http://www.google.com/chrome
[3] http://getfirefox.com
[4] http://gcc.gnu.org/
[5] http://www.vmware.com/products/server/
[6] http://www.virtualbox.org/
[7] http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/
[8] http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/scriptcenter/powershell.aspx

(2) Vim is particularly full of win: it gives you diff and grep on Windows platforms all by itself, apart from being a fantastic editor. - Gaurav
(1) +1000 for GNUWin32 -- that just found its way to my machine really fast - balpha
Question: How does GNUWin32 perform in contrast to Cygwin? - mathepic
(1) It performs OK, as long as you realise that it consists of ports instead of a whole pseudo-UNIX environment, so the kinds of things you can do with it are slightly more limited than Cygwin. - Chinmay Kanchi
5
[+14] [2010-09-02 16:54:53] nivlam

An application launcher like Executor [1] or Launchy [2].

[1] http://www.executor.dk/
[2] http://www.launchy.net/

(4) Launchy is the first thing I install on a new machine. - epotter
(3) QuickSilver for OSX users - systempuntoout
I wonder if that's the first program with a name taken from Ender's Game? - Mark C
What do these do that the vista/7 start menu search doesn't do? - SnOrfus
(1) and Gnome-Do for Gnome users :) - bedwyr
@Snorfus At the very least, the allow you to use a custom screen location, index folders of your choice, and keep everything closer together. - Mark C
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[+14] [2010-09-03 02:23:39] Moshe

CCleaner, for keeping the machine new.


Never heard of this one. Very nifty, thanks! - BlairHippo
(1) +1. I've been using CCleaner for years; it's essential for anyone with a computer, IMO. - Maulrus
(3) @Maulrus: Make that anyone using Windows ;) - imgx64
@imgx64: derp, of course :p - Maulrus
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[+13] [2010-09-03 16:33:47] Simon Brown

SumatraPDF [1]

A lightweight PDF reader that doesn't try to take over your computer.

[1] http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/index.html

What exactly is the problem with Acrobat Reader? I haven't noticed it trying to "take over" my computer. Perhaps you're thinking of RealPlayer! - Mark C
+1: Thanks for posted this. My only other alternative was Foxit, but that thing is falling into the same trap that adobe reader did. @Mark C - imo, my pdf reader shouldn't need a background process, nor should it need to slip in an install of adobe air. - SnOrfus
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[+11] [2010-09-21 09:52:55] Stuart Ellis

Git.

All my projects are in version control, and using it is now so automatic that I feel uncomfortable writing code without a version control system.


+1: I don't use git, personally, but a VCS is one of the very first installs for me. - Caleb Huitt - cjhuitt
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[+8] [2010-09-09 08:37:28] Quamis

GIMP http://www.gimp.org/downloads/


There are binaries for Windows, and it also does screen capture. - Jon
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[+8] [2010-09-02 20:49:12] Heather

No matter what I'm doing, I always need:

[1] http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
[2] http://filezilla-project.org/
[3] http://www.mozillamessaging.com/thunderbird/
[4] http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
[5] http://www.openoffice.org/

+1 for Thunderbird - finnw
(2) +1 for openoffice. Something that actually got BETTER after being touched by Oracle. - SnOrfus
@SnOrfus - I agree, OO is so much better now than it used to be. - Heather
(1) +1 for Notepad++ - Marcel Lamothe
(1) Check out LibreOffice if you like OO. - user1525
(2) I can't stand Notepad++. It feels like someone tried to write a clone of EditPad and got half the features subtly wrong. - Mason Wheeler
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[+8] [2010-10-27 19:08:41] Conrad Frix

Sysinternals [1]

Particularly Process Explorer

[1] http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx

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[+6] [2010-09-02 20:52:48] Simon Brown

WinSCP [1]

[1] http://winscp.net/

Unfortunately, I discovered on my first use that WinSCP has absolutely terrible response time for selection & renaming-type actions. Then I went back to "Secure File Transfer Client" and discovered it was missing a simple feature or two from WinSCP. Ah, wish they would make one with the good from both. - Mark C
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[+6] [2010-09-09 08:38:28] Quamis

Fences http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/


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[+5] [2010-09-09 08:26:27] Richard

ULTRAMON [1]

This is really useful if you have dual monitors.

[1] http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/

Also helpful for single monitors, it's wallpaper function doesn't make you define a background colour, unlike XP. Gone are the days of desktop icons with the text in an ugly colour box. - glasnt
(1) @glasnt: Those days are long gone with or without a separate app... - SnOrfus
@snorfus: pretty sure my xp sp2 machine still uses whatever background colour I select as the behind text colour. Are you saying that xp/vista/7 have this functionality already built in? - glasnt
@glasnt: yup. I'm not at work, but iirc my work machine doesn't do that (xp sp3 but iirc it's the same in sp2). - SnOrfus
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[+5] [2010-09-03 16:35:25] Simon Brown

HxD [1]

A hex editor.

[1] http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/

Hi-ya! I spent a while looking for a decent code editor, and then I found HxD. - Mark C
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[+5] [2010-09-03 22:58:00] Gordon

Adium [1]

Mac Only.

Best IM client I have ever used.

[1] http://adium.im/

(1) Mac OSX-only multimessenger. For Windows I recommend Digsby. - ShdNx
How does Trillian compare to Digsby? - Mark C
@ShdNx Sorry, I meant that question for you, but that was before I knew subsequent comments didn't alert. - Mark C
(1) @Mark C I've also tried Trillian, but I found it very buggy and often annoying; I'm afraid I don't remember any specifics, they might have been fixed by now (it was like a year ago), but very soon I switched to Pidgin, which is a good multimessanger, but quite minimastic for my taste. Disgby is a very good compromise; it doesn't has an awful lot of (mostly useless) features, but it should be enough to satisfy the needs of almost everyone. It is also quite stable, and the only bug I've ever discovered has been fixed within a day (very helpful support!). I would certainly recommend it. - ShdNx
@ShdNx: Okay, thanks. I'll check it out if I need to be instant-messaging in the future. - Mark C
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[+5] [2010-09-03 06:36:06] Technikhil

I am assuming this is a Windows machine and that it does not have any of the usual crap-ware installed by default. I am also assuming that you company has MS Office installed so you don't need an email client, word processor etc. The list below are all freely available and mostly open source -

  1. Google Chrome / Mozilla Firefox - Web Browser, I tend to favor Google chrome but Firefox is great too.
  2. 7-Zip - Compression/decompression utility
  3. Notepad ++ / Notepad 2 - Notepad replacements
  4. Foxit Reader - PDF Document viewer
  5. Paint.NET - For basic image manipulation needs
  6. VLC Media Player - Media player
  7. Putty - Telnet/SSH Utility
  8. WinMerge - File comparing utility
  9. FreeMind - Mind Mapping Tool
  10. Emacs/Vim - If you like powerful key-board based editors.
  11. CCleaner - Awesome for cleaning up crud on your machine.
  12. Java - Download the latest version of Java.

Most of these applications are available as portable apps that you can install on a flash drive from Portable Apps [1]. I normally keep them on the flash drive and copy them over to the new machine and run it from there.

It's convenient since they can be easily moved from machine to machine, so you get up and running faster :-)

If you have the following software installed please uninstall or disable them.

  1. Internet Explorer - Keep it around so you can load your old intranet website but don't make it the default, use Google Chrome or Firefox instead. If you are keeping it make sure it is IE 7.0 or above.
  2. Adobe Reader - Uninstall and use Foxit Reader instead
[1] http://portableapps.com/

PS: This list is useful for most people - if you are a developer I think you would need some others as well. I will post those as a separate answer. - Technikhil
PPS: Actually I got most of my development based (and a few of the one in the list above) from Scott Hanselman's awesome annual list of software tools - hanselman.com/blog/… - check it out for the developer side tools. - Technikhil
+1 for 7-Zip and Foxit - Chinmay Kanchi
Laptops usually have more crapware installed than desktops. It's usually a couple of hours of cleanup work before it's usable. - talonx
+1 for 7-Zip and Notepad++ - Marcel Lamothe
Yuck, 7-zip. Has it changed substantially in the last couple of years? I have used archivers since PKZIP and ARJ (and RAR under DOS, oh yeah), and I tried 7-zip a few years ago and only remember a very bad impression. - Mark C
Well I have some good success with it. GUI is similar to WinRAR and it open most of the formats out there. I also like that it is available as a portable app. - Technikhil
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[+4] [2010-09-04 22:11:38] fearoffours

Some that people haven't mentioned:

  • Autohotkey [1] for excellent macro keyboard mappings, and using an Apple Keyboard with a PC
  • Inkscape [2] for vector graphics work
  • Colorpad [3] for getting color values of any pixel onscreen
[1] http://www.autohotkey.com/
[2] http://inkscape.org/
[3] http://matthieu.bizland.com/index.html

+1 for Colorpad - finnw
(3) +1 for AutoHotKey! Especially at work, this tool has saved lots of time and money. - Fosco
I just took a look at Colorpad. I think ColorCop is ahead by miles, although some of the other utilities look useful. The increment buttons are cute but I can't think of a good use for them. - Mark C
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[+4] [2010-10-27 16:59:19] Urda

Mercurial [1]

[1] http://mercurial.selenic.com/

20
[+3] [2010-10-27 01:15:13] kasterma

Emacs with org-mode.


+1 for Emacs, but I don't use org-mode - Inaimathi
21
[+3] [2010-09-04 20:43:17] Shawn Chin

I used to be a Linux/Mac user, and when a new work environment imposed the use of Win XP, my productivity fell drastically. I'm not blaming the OS, it's just that functionality I've grown to rely on were no longer available.

I've since brought my productivity back up to speed, thanks to the following apps:

  • VirtuaWin [1] (virtual desktop for windows)
  • Launchy [2] (QuickSilver equivalent)
  • Snippy [3] (Quick screen capture, great for writing howtos and documenting bugs/features/etc)
  • Synergy [4] (Mouse+keyboard+clipboard sharing across machines/OSes)
  • Cygwin/X [5] (for when I need some basic *nix functionality and X-windows support)
  • VirtualBox [6] (for when I need a full *nix environment)
  • gVim [7] for Windows
  • dropbox [8] (filesharing between different machines + phone)
  • and of course, Firefox (plus all the fabulous extensions like firebug, adblock, aardvark [9], GreaseMonkey, xmarks, ... )
[1] http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/
[2] http://www.launchy.net/
[3] http://www.bhelpuri.net/Snippy/
[4] http://synergy-foss.org/
[5] http://x.cygwin.com/
[6] http://www.virtualbox.org/
[7] http://www.vim.org/download.php#pc
[8] http://www.dropbox.com/
[9] http://karmatics.com/aardvark/

+1 for dropbox. - Marcel Lamothe
Hm, I need a good screenshot utility. PrtScr > Run > MSPaint > Paste > broken crop feature > New > Paste > Imageshack/other gets old. - Mark C
Windows 7, incidentally, comes with an excellent screenshot utility. - Christian Mann
22
[+3] [2010-09-03 20:58:23] eds

For Mac: Quicksilver [1]

There's a Windows version too but the Mac version is much faster if I'm not mistaken.

[1] http://quicksilver.en.softonic.com/mac

23
[+2] [2010-09-03 07:52:00] tsudot

Guake [1], a terminal for the gnome desktop, which pretty much acts like a quake terminal.

[1] http://guake.org

I so wish there was a Windows version. - Mark C
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[+2] [2010-09-05 09:06:17] FeatureCreep
[1] http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/
[2] http://www.cygwin.com/
[3] http://www.gimp.org/
[4] http://inkscape.org/
[5] http://www.eclipse.org/
[6] http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/
[7] http://www.skype.com/intl/en/home
[8] http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
[9] http://winscp.net/eng/index.php
[10] http://www.dropbox.com/

+1 for Eclipse - the best IDE I've used - bedwyr
Why no Dropbox on work computers? - Christian Mann
@Mann since I use dropbox for private stuff only. If my employer or customer wants dropbox they have to set up a separate account. - FeatureCreep
25
[+2] [2010-09-09 08:07:18] Tom Morgan
  • ManicTime [1] (for settling arguments)
  • [ClipX] for managing clipboard
  • [MagicDisk] - for installing all the important apps
  • [Fiddler]

...plus half the stuff already said. I've tried so many times to make an all-in-one install disk, but it never works out.

edit: sorry, had to remove most of the hyperlinks. I am not yet worthy!

[1] http://www.manictime.com/

+1 for Fiddler. - Marcel Lamothe
26
[+2] [2010-10-27 19:10:19] Conrad Frix

WinDBG [1]

Because not every problem happens when you have a debugger attached

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx

27
[+1] [2010-09-15 17:17:02] talonx

ZoneAlarm firewall.


(1) This isn't a must-have for programming. In fact, it's likely to often get in the way if you're doing network programming. - Chinmay Kanchi
(2) I think it's a must have for any developer box (not for programming, but as a part of the tools you must install on a Windows box). Most of today's software attempt to connect to the internet without telling you, install autoupdate programs to the registry etc. This is not always desirable. As for network programming, why would it get in the way if you configure it correctly? Have you ever used it? - talonx
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[+1] [2010-09-16 09:35:30] Jérémie Bertrand

Spotify [1], to listen music.

[1] http://www.spotify.com

29
[+1] [2010-10-28 18:36:49] Mads Hansen

WinMerge [1]

alt text

[1] http://winmerge.org/

30
[+1] [2010-10-28 19:09:47] Joeri Sebrechts

Ecco Pro [1]

I know there are much better outliners out there, and I've got several installed, but there's something about Ecco that makes me more creative when I'm mapping out a new high-level design.

Also, props to Microsoft for allowing an app from 1997 to still run flawlessly on an OS released over a decade later.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecco_Pro

31
[+1] [2010-10-27 19:08:00] matiash

TortoiseSVN [1] with Beyond Compare [2] as a comparison tool.

[1] http://tortoisesvn.net/
[2] http://www.scootersoftware.com/

32
[+1] [2010-09-09 08:35:08] Aivar

PDFCreator, for printing to pdf


OO can do that too, can't it? - TRiG
Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 can do this much more reliably. - Andreas Rejbrand
(1) Well, sometimes you want to print something else than office documents ;) - Aivar
33
[+1] [2010-09-09 05:05:45] J8D

Ditto Clipboard Manager

http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net/


34
[+1] [2010-09-09 08:39:08] Quamis

TrayIt http://www.teamcti.com/trayit/trayit.htm


35
[+1] [2010-09-09 08:39:56] MagicAndi

I use Ninite.com [1] to generate a batch installer for all of my essential applications (Firefox, CCleaner, Revo Uninstaller, etc).

[1] http://ninite.com/

36
[+1] [2010-09-04 18:47:54] Scott Dorman

(All of these are Windows apps. The question doesn't specify operating system.)


37
[0] [2010-09-03 09:56:01] pramodc84

Music player such as Winamp or Songbird


MediaMonkey is a great Music player! - TandemAdam
On Microsoft Windows, Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center are great the best media players there is. And they are free and pre-installed. (But it is bad that there is no out-of-the-box Blue-Ray support in Windows 7.) - Andreas Rejbrand
(1) Interesting that somebody has downvoted this, and that some people think Windows Media Player is a good player. Sorry @Andreas, but I think WMP sucks, when compared to options like VLC, the MPClassic bundled with KLite Code Pack and smplayer. - talonx
Open task manager see how much memory WMP swallows. Its 4 times more than Winamp! - pramodc84
38
[0] [2010-09-13 08:54:08] Dimitri C.

An application for keeping my task list. I use jEdit [1] for this purpose.

[1] http://superuser.com/questions/1206/which-tool-do-you-use-for-your-to-do-list/38190#38190

39
[0] [2010-10-27 00:09:41] Nathan Taylor

LINQPad [1]

It is by far the best .NET programmers' notepad available.

[1] http://www.linqpad.net/

40
[0] [2010-10-27 00:45:51] Blair Holloway

Visual Assist [1] for Visual Studio.

Doing large amounts of coding in C++ is a nightmare without it.

[1] http://www.wholetomato.com/

With Visual Studio 2010, this problem is largely resolved. - Dimitri C.
Disagree, especially if you don't have Visual Studio 2010 at your place of work (we're still on VS2005!), but also because there are still areas where Visual Assist will find a symbol that Intellisense won't (or vice versa), and features that VS2010 doesn't, to my knowledge, have (find/open file in workspace, rename all references, additional syntax highlighting categories). Correct me if I'm wrong? :) - Blair Holloway
41
[0] [2010-10-27 01:01:41] Dave

DEFRAGGLER [1] Great defragging program

[1] http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

42
[0] [2010-09-09 05:29:33] TandemAdam

Launchy [1] (PC) or QuickSilver [2] (Mac)

[1] http://www.launchy.net/
[2] http://docs.blacktree.com/quicksilver/overview

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[0] [2010-09-09 05:32:45] TandemAdam

QLiner Hotkeys [1]

[1] http://www.qliner.com/hotkeys/

44
[0] [2010-09-09 05:57:41] logoin

On Windows:

  • Eclipse
  • Notepad++
  • Foxit Reader
  • Chrome
  • Firefox + firebug
  • SVN or Git
  • Xmarks: sync bookmark in between Chrome and Firefox
  • Cygwin

45
[0] [2010-09-09 03:48:23] Henry Flower

VMware Workstation only, because I do all work in virtual machines.

The software on a physical host is completely irrelevant for me--it may be a clean & empty Windows 7 or minimal Fedora installation--for obvious reasons I don't care.


46
[0] [2010-10-29 10:28:46] Carra

Multimon [1]

Great freeware tool that extends your taskbar aver multiple screens and adds multi monitor support.

[1] http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/landing_chrome.html?hl=en

47
[0] [2010-10-27 18:47:25] Inaimathi

I've got a shell script prepped that installs the following on my machine:

  • Emacs, Git, Apache, nginx, MySQL, PostgreSQL
  • OpenSSH server
  • Conkeror (Firefox for Emacs users)
  • VirtualBox OSE
  • imagemagick, ghostscript, xara, inkscape
  • audacity, ffmpeg, pacpl
  • PHP, pirl, rhino, erlang, ruby, mzscheme, sbcl, ghc + Hugs (I have yet to use ghc or Hugs, but I keep them there in case I have some idle time to dedicate to language study)

48
[0] [2010-09-16 10:41:27] benno

When I'm not within my usual haunt (Visual Studio) I'm usually working away in UltraEdit [1] which is a great text editor, I've used it for years and its never failed me. Got everything I need, but not bloated like other editors.

Other than that, Beyond Compare, UltraMon, Paint.net and FileZilla are other apps that are first to get installed on a clean machine.

[1] http://www.ultraedit.com/

49
[0] [2010-10-27 19:33:40] dassouki

Alarm Clock Type Programs

Any alarm program that can run on my computer with a really annoying buzzer ring has the win for me.


Would you mind naming one? I've been in search for a really good one for years now ... (cause either the interface sucks, or the sounds, or the ...) - Rook
50
[0] [2010-10-27 20:34:56] Rook

MikTeX [1]

LaTeX distribution, for times when Office just doesn't cut it. I prefer MikTeX Portable, can carry it with me as I tag along.

[1] http://miktex.org

51
[0] [2010-10-27 23:39:12] this.Daniel

Songbird

Best music player I've ever used. UI is amazing.

Others: MalwareBytes, Spybot, Avira, Scotty, ImgBurn.


52
[0] [2010-10-28 01:01:43] jiceo
  • Ubuntu
  • f.lux
  • pidgin
  • Firefox + Firebug
  • Chrome,
  • Eclipse + PyDev
  • VIM/gVIM
  • Git / SVN / Git-svn plus some kind of GIT GUI

53
[0] [2010-10-28 17:47:29] Mads Hansen

Agent Ransack [1]

Provides a fast an efficient way to search through folders/files with regex patterns for both filename and contents.

Explorer integration allows you to right click on a folder and initiate an Agent Ransack search starting at that point.

[1] http://www.mythicsoft.com/page.aspx?type=agentransack&page=home

54