Spinoff: what are your favorite desktop programs in general ?

[eDJ_]

This thread is to ask what the people of CRVL have as their favorite desk top program.
What are your "Go-To" programs for your daily Computer use ? 

One of my go to's which allows for a lot of photo editing is  PicPicK.   I can quickly take screen shots
(using the software like a camera to take photos of online photos or text)   This provides for an
editor with a wide range of common functions.  It is free, simple, and loads quickly and with it I can
accomplish things before  I can get Photoshop open.

Another desk top program I like is FotoSketcher.  You can open any photo in it and by only
sliding "slide switches"  modify the looks of it. There is a selection to choose from to modify a
photo to an oil painting, water color, line drawing in black and white and beyond.  (about 25 selections)
Anyone without much artistic talent can use this to achieve a work of art that they would love to be
able to produce.  It's free and amazing. 

I often use these two free software programs together at the same time to get results greater
than the value of the two.

What are your favorite desk top programs ?  Are they  "free" ?

Grant,  do you have any favorites ?

 

[highdesertranger]

well most of mine have to do with mining. nice pun. so besides the web browser and the CRVL forum, I use the nat geo topo maps a lot. they are not free, you buy them by state, they give you every USGS topo map for the state you buy, I have CA, NV, OR, and AZ. this is like 30,000 highly detailed maps of these states. remember all your other maps for rural areas are USGS based. so I have the originals. coming in second is google earth, btw google maps and map quest suck, maybe they work for city folk but not for me. I know boring, but that's how I roll. highdesertranger

 

[highdesertranger]

oh I forgot mine cache. it shows the status of all mineral claims in the US and is updated monthly. this is invaluable it shows claims from the past and present and their status, current, closed, open and minerals present. with the claim owners name and city. keeps you from mineral trespassing. o it's not free either but the cost is very reasonable for the amount of info you get. it is also so much more accurate and much easier to use than the Government websites. highdesertranger

 

[eDJ_]

This is a general question to see what computer desk top programs or Cell app's are in use by the members of the board.   What are your Go-To Tech programs that help you live a better life from your Van or RV when on the road ?   

I would have to say  "Gas Buddy" for one.  Finds the cheapest gas & diesel by zip code.

And a weather app  "Weatherforyou com"

The Yellow Link above the weather instruments can be clicked to get
the forecast for each day of the coming week.  Percentage of rain is
indicated for each day along with highs and lows and cloud coverage.


Google Map's App would be a must have for me.   I can find my
place anywhere.   By using "Peg Man" I can actually travel the road
before I go there just as though I were driving on it. 

What would be your lifestyle helpers ?

 

[highdesertranger]

well gas buddy only works good in urban areas, very spotty in rural areas. same with google maps very poor in rural areas where you don't have a address or they just guess. for weather go to the NWS that's the National Weather Service, no ads and all those other ones get their info from them. highdesertranger

 

[GrantRobertson]

My numberoone favorite program is Microsoft OneNote. I keep all my notes in it. Evernote is like a piece of cr*p from the 80s compared to it. It is now free. Yes, free. Of course the paid for version has a couple more features. However, that full version also now comes with MS Office and on many tablets and laptops. So you may have it and not even know it. I could rave all night about OneNote but my finger would cramp up. Just look it up and watch the videos.

I am a big fan of Acrobat Pro. But then I am an academic type, so it comes in handy for the kinds of stuff I do.

I am wanting to find a mapping application that I install on my computer, and works off-line. I want to be able to save multiple routes, locations (with custom designed data for each point), and geographic data.

Most of the tools I use most often are really only useful for technical writers. And no, Word is not one of them. Word is so full of bugs it ain't even funny.

 

[BC Guy]

Ccleaner
SumatraPDF
Privacy Badger
All these are free.
Video Downloadhelper - I use the free version.
I used Bitlord, but now I rarely open it. Free.

 

[GrantRobertson]

Some utilities others might find helpful (all are free):

MyDefrag:
De-fragments your hard drive but also positions files where they will make the best use of the speed of retrieval of the various positions on the disk. 

Macrium Reflect, the free version:
Takes an image of your complete hard drive. After you have done a fresh install of your system, you can take an "image" of your hard drive. Later, if it gets corrupted, infected, or "maliciously updated" you can just reapply the image and the whole disk (partition) will be back the way it was when you took the image. It takes a little strategy to use this well. You have to store your data on a different partition than your Windows installation and a few other things like that, which I won't go into here. But once you get it set up it is really nice to be able to just blast that image back in place if anything goes wrong. {{Bob, when I finally get out on the road, this might be a great topic for a seminar at the RTR. I used to be a network manager and then an independent computer consultant, so I can teach people lots of stuff about keeping their computers running.}}

SyncToy:
A utility from Microsoft. I don't run regular backups of my data files. Instead, I synchronize all those files between my laptop and my desktop. That way I have a full running system with everything set up and working if the other goes down. When you have only changed a few files, this thing runs amazingly fast.

Calibre eBook management program:
This will read a lot of different eBook file formats. It will also convert to and from a lot more other formats. I convert everything into .PDF format.

WinDirStat:
Helps in finding files and folders that are hogging more space than you thought.

7-Zip:
A file compression program. It works a lot faster than others and will compress down better than a regular .zip file. Optionally adds context menu items to allow easy compression, viewing, decompressing of files or folders.

Exact Audio Copy:
For getting music off of CDs and onto your hard drive as accurately as possible with the most efficient compression for your listening needs. It takes a while to figure out and set up because it uses a couple of other programs that are also free, but it is worth the trouble. Can get a good rip even if your CD is a little scratch up.


Remember though, this thread or forum is not the place to ask tech-support questions about these programs. Each one has their own support forum at the developer's web site.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Two web browsers.  I use Internet Explorer for general browsing, but I installed Chrome to use for banking and other financial stuff.  The idea is if your Internet Explorer gets "tainted" by some kind of new malware, it will be looking for passwords, credit card numbers, etc.  Since Chrome is never used to access any questionable sites, it can't pick up such problems.

I like to shut down Internet Explorer and reboot the system before launching Chrome to do sensitive stuff.  Then shut down Chrome and bring Explorer back up to go back to general browsing.

That's on top of running Norton Internet Security and Malwarebytes Anti Malware, of course

What, you think I picked my screen name at random?

Regards
John

 

[LeeRevell]

On computer:  
I use "snippet tool" to take a screen shot of an interesting photo or an online receipt, etc.  
I use "Irfanview" (free download photo display & minieditor) to crop and do minor editing (resizing for online use).
I use MS Paint for major editing as it is quick and much more user-friendly than Photoshop.  I haven't bothered buying Photoshop for the new laptop, as Ihardly used it on the old desktop computer.

On smartphone I use Weather_dot_com to check weather.  It tends to change predictions quickly and can 'lie' but it has very good weather maps.
I also sometimes use Gas Buddy.  Again accuracy varies.
I make use of Verizon's VZNavigator app, having found it more accurate than any of my several dedicated GPS gadgets.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

i second 7zip, best compression tool. Im a big free ware lover, so open office (can open and save microsoft files), inkscape (illustrator), gimp (photoshop), sketchup (free 3d cad software).

I also use a tool called treesize(i believe), it gives you an easy way to see what your storage is being used for/taken up by....less important now with these mega hard drives but i sometimes can spot problems, like my world of warcraft installing itself 3 different places....

 

[eDJ_]

Here are some Free  Web Building oriented programs that anyone may find useful.

From the folks at Coffee Cup


http://www.coffeecup.com/freestuff/

Anyone with a personal website, blog, social media, or publishing something to the web may want to give
these a look.

 

[eDJ_]

I'd add this link to this thread as it could benefit others

45 Free Thumb Drive Applications:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/45-free-useful-thumb-drive-applications/