My Top Ten Applications

There are some tools that help me to achieve some of my daily tasks. One thing links all of them though, they are all free software and can be downloaded online.

1. OpenOffice.org (Windows/Linux)

   This is an office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. OpenOffice.org is a good alternative to the Microsoft Office suite. It stores documents in an international open standard format but can also read and write files in the popular .doc/.docx formats. One thing I love about it is the capability to export documents as pdf files; you can also download templates and other widgets online. To download, go to http://download.openoffice.org/index.html.

2. GIMP (Windows/Linux)

   GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program; a free and versatile graphics manipulation package which is easy to learn and use.

   It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc. Extensive support exists in the form of a lots of plugins; you can also write your own widgets if you desire. I use GIMP to tweak a lot of pictures to my taste. Try it out, you might like it.

   http://www.gimp.org/

3. BASH (Linux)

   Now, this is the program I can’t do without whenever I’m on my Linux box; I find it immensely valuable. BASH is an acronym for Bourne-again shell – a command line interpreter. It is a programming environment and also a program. Bash is compatible with the sh shell but also includes features from the Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh). Shell scripts are a great way to solve problems and usually contain fewer lines than C/C++ code.

   Sorry folks… this is for Linux only.

4. TweetDeck (Multi-platform)

   I have accounts on Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and Google buzz. Updating my status on each one separately used to be a pain and took too much effort. Enter TweetDeck, an application that runs on Adobe AIR and enables you to monitor your social networking accounts easily. It runs on desktops, ipads, iphones, Android and from the Chrome browser. A great piece of software, give it a shot: http://www.tweetdeck.com/.

5. CCleaner (Windows)

   Computer Cleaner is a tool that enables you to clean your system of junk files and also fix errors in your registry. It is published by Piriform software, is free and easy to download. One endearing characteristic of this software is the speed of its operation.

   Check http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

6. Defraggler (Windows)

   Also from Piriform, Defraggler carries out defragmentation of storage devices. It gives a lot of control over the defragmentation process; users can defragment an entire file, a folder, or a single file, search for files of a particular size or type or exclude files by some criteria.

   Defraggler is simple enough for everyday users, and flexible enough for those who demand the most options. More information is available at http://www.piriform.com/defraggler.

7. Netbeans (Multi-platform)

   This is an integrated development environment that is fully written in Java and offers an IDE module for just about any language. There is excellent support and a vibrant community behind the software; this ensures that bugs and user issues are quickly sorted out. Users can write their own modules. I like the support for Drupal, Kenai CVS and MySQL best.

   By the way, it is argued that the Eclipse is actually better… I don’t use Eclipse so I can’t say.

   http://netbeans.org/

8. Virtualbox (Multi-platform)

   VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product designed for enterprise, home as well as embedded use. It is a high performance product that contains an extensive set of rich features, and is the ONLY professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software.

   Supported platforms include Windows, Linux, OpenSolaris and a host of others.

   http://www.virtualbox.org/

9. Recuva (Windows)

   This is a file recovery application. We all lose important files at some time or the other and need a way out. Computers crash, accidental deletions, formats etc. Well, Recuva recovers deleted files from your computer, flash drive, MP3 player or whatever memory location you specify.

   Best of all, it’s free! Just like all the other software mentioned here.

   http://www.piriform.com/recuva

10. Banshee

    Banshee has replaced Rhythmbox as the bundled media player on the Ubuntu distro. In addition to playing audio files, it has support for videos, podcasts and audiobooks. Itis written in C# (Surprised?) using the Mono platform. I like the organisational features and how it snugly fits into the Ubuntu package.

    Banshee does not currently run on the Windows Platform… :-|

    http://banshee.fm/

    I hope you found this list useful; these are some of my most useful applications, what are yours?