Recommended PC Software

[Mr. Murphy]

I'm wondering what you guys use to customize and streamline your PC experience. I'm looking for the software you use everyday, the stuff that you download first when you reformat, the stuff you use to customize your desktop and any helpful utilities and tools.

For example, I love VLC media player (https://videolan.org/vlc/), and use it for all video playback because it will play pretty much any file, even if it's broken. I would recommend it for any PC user who watches media on their computer.

As far as a music players go, I would suggest Foobar2000 (http://foobar2000.org/) to anyone who doesn't mind geeking out a little bit on their music player. It has an incredibly tiny footprint, can be used to stream online content, and with some customization the interface can be made to display any data you want. Using plugins, you can even use it to update your iPod if you are sick of iTunes and it's ridiculous issues.

There's got to be a lot of handy and interesting stuff out there. What do you use?

[Jboy001]

I use stardocks objectdock (http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/) on my laptop, it keeps everything clean looking and gives me quick access to commonly used programs without making your screen look cluttered.
It also makes your pc seem semi mac which is either a good or a bad thing depending on who you are
I also use VLC and Foobar 2000, quality free programs.

[J Arcane]

BBLean.

It's a shell replacement based on the Blackbox Window Manager, taking over the Windows Explorer desktop and window management.

Makes a huge difference in OS speed, and is quite stable. The built in window themer does on rare occasion conflict with some full screen games, but this can be fixed by simply turning it off, and getting a good UXTheme instead. I use on called "GUI::Relax" I found on DeviantArt.

[Nura]

I use stardocks objectdock (http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/) on my laptop, it keeps everything clean looking and gives me quick access to commonly used programs without making your screen look cluttered.
It also makes your pc seem semi mac which is either a good or a bad thing depending on who you are
I also use VLC and Foobar 2000, quality free programs.

Would you say objectdock plus is worth the 20$? i've been thinking about buying it for a while now.

[OrangePulp]

I prefer Zoom Player to VLC; mapping scroll wheel to time skip (I've got it set at 5 seconds at a time) is invaluable to me.

[Mr. Murphy]

BBLean.

It's a shell replacement based on the Blackbox Window Manager, taking over the Windows Explorer desktop and window management.

Makes a huge difference in OS speed, and is quite stable. The built in window themer does on rare occasion conflict with some full screen games, but this can be fixed by simply turning it off, and getting a good UXTheme instead. I use on called "GUI::Relax" I found on DeviantArt.

Wait, not to sound like an idiot, but are you saying it replaces Windows Explorer, and makes Windows run faster in the process?

And what's UXTheme? I actually don't use any sort of Windows themer because I'm still running an older PC and try to keep my software footprint small.

[Jboy001]

Would you say objectdock plus is worth the 20$? i've been thinking about buying it for a while now.

Well I've not felt limited by the free version, I just set it and forget it!
I don't know how organized you like to be, I only setup some shortcuts and I'm pretty happy with it being my taskbar and start menu replacement.
I couldn't see wanting multiple docks but maybe I just haven't been shown the way.

[J Arcane]

Wait, not to sound like an idiot, but are you saying it replaces Windows Explorer, and makes Windows run faster in the process?

That is exactly what I am saying. I won't run a Windows box without it.

And what's UXTheme? I actually don't use any sort of Windows themer because I'm still running an older PC and try to keep my software footprint small.

uxtheme.dll is the piece of system software that Windows uses to draw your desktop themes. Normally, it is limited to only running Microsoft digitally signed themes, but there are free patchers available that allow any theme to work. It's a much faster and easier alternative to programs like Object Desktop as it requires no additional software. Some commercial themers, like StyleXP for example, actually are little more than a UXtheme patch paired up with some proprietary client.

[Mr. Murphy]

That is exactly what I am saying. I won't run a Windows box without it.

Neat! Downloading now. BBLean (http://bb4win.sourceforge.net/bblean/)

[KingGorilla]

I run windows, it is about as lean as a Delmonico steak. There was a brief period of happiness: VLC for video, firefox to surf and upload filed and edit XML, iunes for my podcasts and iPod. But the dark days are upon me again. I Use VLC, but having no scroll bar in full screen makes me watch longer videos in Media Player, MPC is too spartan for my other tastes. Itunes syncs my podcasts and downloads them, works well to play those videos as well. I use firefox to upload and maintain basic funtions of my site, Opera for daily browsing, but because the Flash bug hits Opera and FF hard, I watch web video streams on IE8. Throw in Real Alternative if anyone tosses a RMV file my way, and that is 3 stand alone players just for video. I will occasionally punish myself with Chrome, Safari, or the Zune software just to see if they get any better, or good enough for me to suggest someone use them.

[Grifter]

Does anyone know of an app for Vista(64) that will scroll through desktop backgrounds automatically? I don't need any of the bells and whistles of these other programs but it would be kind of cool to have the background automatically change every hour or so.

[KingGorilla]

Caught this at the PC Mag forums.
http://www.vista-files.org/programs/gphotoshow-com/wallpaper-slideshow-lt.html

[PathMaster]

RocketDock.

And for those who want to skip around a movie, while in fullscreen, with VLC, the recent update allows for this at last.

[BLeeP]

BBLean.

It's a shell replacement based on the Blackbox Window Manager, taking over the Windows Explorer desktop and window management.

Makes a huge difference in OS speed, and is quite stable. The built in window themer does on rare occasion conflict with some full screen games, but this can be fixed by simply turning it off, and getting a good UXTheme instead. I use on called "GUI::Relax" I found on DeviantArt.

I am interested in this BBLean. How complicated is it to get setup? I've never dealt with anything outside of DOS and Windows (3.1 and up). I just don't want to screw something up and be messing with it for hours 8-P. Thanks.

[Wraith]

7zip (http://www.7-zip.org/) - zipping & unzipping
TextPad (http://www.textpad.com/) - text editor
FlashGet (http://www.flashget.com/) - download manager
Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/) - image resizing/type conversion/basic editing (handy batch processing, too)
FileZilla (http://filezilla-project.org/) - FTP-ing
allSnap (http://ivanheckman.com/allsnap/) - window alignment
VLC (https://videolan.org/vlc/) - for video
iTunes - for audio
Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/) - obviously

[J Arcane]

I am interested in this BBLean. How complicated is it to get setup? I've never dealt with anything outside of DOS and Windows (3.1 and up). I just don't want to screw something up and be messing with it for hours 8-P. Thanks.
Pathetically easy. Download BBLean, unzip to folder of your choice, run the executable. BBLean will take over right away. Under the right click menu that will now be your new home for everything from start menu to control panels and beyond, you'll find a Blackbox entry, then an Install entry within that, and there you can click install or uninstall to change it's status as your default shell.

Additionally, if you want the fonts in the menus and windows and such to look as intended, you'll want to download the artwiz fontpack from the site as well, and copy those fonts over to your windows font folder.

[Spectre-7]

Funny you should ask. I just recently wiped, and am still only at the bare necessities:

Firefox
Opera
VLC
Blender
Notepad2
Rocketdock
Bittorrent (µTorrent)

I think that's it... I might be missing a few other essentials. *shrug*

[BLeeP]

Pathetically easy. Download BBLean, unzip to folder of your choice, run the executable. BBLean will take over right away. Under the right click menu that will now be your new home for everything from start menu to control panels and beyond, you'll find a Blackbox entry, then an Install entry within that, and there you can click install or uninstall to change it's status as your default shell.

Additionally, if you want the fonts in the menus and windows and such to look as intended, you'll want to download the artwiz fontpack from the site as well, and copy those fonts over to your windows font folder.

Wow, it was just that easy. I'm running it now and it's pretty neat (and very lean). Any recommendations on things to customize it? What sort of plug-ins would you recommend I give a try?

[J Arcane]

I've not messed with plug-ins in a very long time, you'd brobably want to ask around on BB4Win for the answer to that. My Windows boxes undergo regular wipe and reinstalls normally, so I seldom bother with anything but vanilla BBLean.

I am somewhat curious about BBClean, which is an alternate tweaked version of BBLean that looked kinda nifty, but I have not yet tried it.

[muddi900]

I use the RocketDock, EmergeDesktop(for removing the task bar and tray replacement) and Launchy. RocketDock sometimes be extremely obtrusive with some applications and you can't add too many apps, without making it clunky or add menus, which I don't want. All my favorite apps are on the dock, but I am loving Launchy. I know why Mac users like Quicksilver.

I have samurize and I will try to make them extremely cool windows environment on customize.org, once I've more time.

[Zrikz]

I highly recommend objectdock. I recently bought it and the multiple docks does come in handy.. Once I get home, I'll post a picture to show you why. I might check out bblean on the laptop, I've tried it before, but its been a while.

[muddi900]

Everyone should check out launchy. You'll look at you keyboard differently.

[LiquidRain]

bbLean has some strange issues. I use it, so I'll tell you guys:

- Don't alt+tab out of games. It's rare the day you'll get back in. It breaks alt+tab with Source 100% of the time.
- It has alt+tab issues in general. Switch too fast and you won't switch at all. It's bizarre and it bites me in the ass all the time.
- The bbLeanBar has major issues with OpenGL games and still some D3D games (Far Cry 2) You have to kill it or it will be flashing over the game and causing in-game stuttering.
- File operations handled by bbLean freeze bbLean. Example: Dragging a file from Explorer to WinSCP will freeze or slow bbLean to near-freeze for the duration of the transfer. This includes focus switching via mouse or alt+tab, your start menu, etc.

It's not any leaner or faster than Windows. It slows Windows down in a lot of places, especially regarding any file operations at all. Any perceived speed-up is just a placebo effect. You only think it's faster. You can, however, make it smaller, more out of the way, look prettier (if you like minamalism), and increase your productivity using shortcuts made available by bbLeanSkin and bbKeys/KeyHook.

I make my bbLeanSkin close apps when I middle-click application title bars (as if I was closing a tab in Firefox), bbKeyhook will let you control your volume using your media keys (something lost when switching to bbLean from Explorer), and bbKeys lets you define shortcut keys to any app or function, such as switching workstations.

Just be warned. It's not all peaches and sunshine like J Arcane would have you believe. I liken it to using Linux. Slackware, not Ubuntu. (which is where blackbox originates from, *nix operating systems)

[J Arcane]

bbLean has some strange issues. I use it, so I'll tell you guys:

- Don't alt+tab out of games. It's rare the day you'll get back in. It breaks alt+tab with Source 100% of the time.
- It has alt+tab issues in general. Switch too fast and you won't switch at all. It's bizarre and it bites me in the ass all the time.

I have never had a problem alt-tabbing out of a program or game that didn't have alt-tab problems on normal Windows as well.

- The bbLeanBar has major issues with OpenGL games and still some D3D games (Far Cry 2) You have to kill it or it will be flashing over the game and causing in-game stuttering.

It's not the bar, it's the skins. Turning them off will fix the problem. What happens is that even in full screen, with certain apps it's still drawing an invisible window border, that confuses BBLeanSkin. Turn it off and let Windows handle window drawing, and the problem disappears.

- File operations handled by bbLean freeze bbLean. Example: Dragging a file from Explorer to WinSCP will freeze or slow bbLean to near-freeze for the duration of the transfer. This includes focus switching via mouse or alt+tab, your start menu, etc.

I've also never had this problem once. So frankly, I don't even know what you're talking about here.

It's not any leaner or faster than Windows. It slows Windows down in a lot of places, especially regarding any file operations at all.

And again, I've never had speed issues with BBLean in the years that I have been using it. I suspect the problem is on your end, probably a conflict with some other piece of software you're using. Or just Windows being Windows.

[itchyeyes]

RocketDock.
Seconded

too short

[AbeLincoln]

Yeah, alt-tabbing out of source, or most games for that matter doesn't work for me in normal windows. Sooo I'm not sure it's a problem. I think I'll check out BBLean when I get home...

[LiquidRain]

It's not the bar, it's the skins. Turning them off will fix the problem. What happens is that even in full screen, with certain apps it's still drawing an invisible window border, that confuses BBLeanSkin. Turn it off and let Windows handle window drawing, and the problem disappears.
No, it's the bar. The skins I know about, but the bar also has issues. I can't play Far Cry 2 with bbLeanBar on, or any OpenGL app. Could only be a GDI or nVidia driver issue.

And again, I've never had speed issues with BBLean in the years that I have been using it. I suspect the problem is on your end, probably a conflict with some other piece of software you're using. Or just Windows being Windows.
The speed of Explorer browsing and file monitoring and directory updating is much slower when using bbLean. Deleting a file on bbLean takes 2-3s, on Explorer it happens instantly.

[muddi900]

I would like to give a shout out to terracopy. Copying huge folders in windows was a pain in the ass before I used terracopy.

[DangerousDaze]

Everyone should check out launchy. You'll look at you keyboard differently.

I use Dash Command (http://trydash.com/), personally. It's payware but I think overall it's a better product.

[muddi900]

I use Dash Command (http://trydash.com/), personally. It's payware but I think overall it's a better product.

There are plugins available for launchy for whatever dash command does. Of course the value is out-of-the-box functionality. But I'm perfectly happy with my launchy :D

[jpublic]

Virus: AVG Free.
iTunes: Because I have an iPod Touch
Media Player Classic+KLite Codec Pack+Real Alternative+Quicktime Alternative
Nero: CD Burning
Openoffice: The rare days I need an office app.

That's it. I have Windows Defender kicking around but that's now such a part of the system I don't think it counts.

I try to keep my PC as lean as possible. I've been trained since I was very young to keep my computer minimal and to keep as few apps installed as I can. I'm not big on music or videos, so.... Well, for example, I have 200GB of space ont his machine - 120GB is free, and of the 80GB used, 45GB is games.

[DangerousDaze]

There are plugins available for launchy for whatever dash command does. Of course the value is out-of-the-box functionality. But I'm perfectly happy with my launchy :D

I did try Launchy before I purchased Dash but I just didn't like it. Dash was much easier to configure and use, snappier, less clunky and had a much smaller in-memory footprint. Launchy is obviously a good solution for many people so I'm not knocking it - I just think Dash is a better product.