What Free Software Does Father Dan Use / Recommend?

It’s been a while since I posted a list of usefull softwares – here we go:

FireFox Webbrowser – Free. The “extensions” are plug-ins you can add to block ads, show the weather, and on and on and on. Not vulnerable to a lot of attacks. Uses tabbed browsing. Look for the “view in IE” extension, in the rare case a webpage does not render correctly you can right click on the page and have it open in Internet Explorer. Expect Microsoft to implement a lot of the Firefox features in the next version of IE.

RSS reader for Outlook – Newsgator is a great RSS reader that plugs into Outlook. Costs about $30 however . . .

Free RSS reader for Outlook RSS Popper is a Free RSS reader that works almost exactly like Newsgator. If you are just starting out with RSS feeds I would use this one.

Google search bar add-in Search Google from your toolbar in IE. (This is built in to Firefox)

Plaxo for outlook – Free – for the love of all things holy get plaxo. It keeps your contact information synchronized with everyone else’s Outlook.

Cloudmark for Outlook $2 a month – the absolute best anti-spam program around.

Real Account for Outlook – Do you use multiple accounts in Outlook? Want to be able to send one accounts email in text format with a certain signature and the other accounts email in HTML with a different signature? Want it all done automatically? Get this free program.

Update Microsoft Windows Learn it, know it, live it.

Update Microsoft Office – Learn it, know it, live it.

Microsoft spyware removal – I stopped using Spybot and Ad-Aware, now I use this program – works great and automatically gets updates!

Clamwin Anti-Virus – Free antivirus which also scans incoming emails. Updates itself automatically.

Picasa Image Viewer – Got pictures? Get this. Free. Just get it.

Google Desktop Search – Search everything on your computer in seconds. Free.

W.Bloggar Blog Tool – If you area blogger this is a free app to let you do quick posts without having to go to the website.

Gaim Instant Messenger – All your friends and family have different instant messenger programs? This free program talks to the mall. Run Gaim instead of Yahoo, Aim, ICQ, MSN all individually!

NetSwitcher for Windows – I have different network settings at the office than I do at home. Single click and my laptop reconfigures itself! Costs about $20 but it’s well worth it!

Shareaza P2P Bit Torrent – the absolute best (and free) file sharing program around. It also has built in bit torrent capability.

SlickRun Utility – Make shortcutsto programs and folders. For example I type “dd” and my download folder opens. Grab it (free) and play with it – you’ll get attached very quickly.

Skype VOIP – Almost free Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) – Call Mom on the other coast for next to nothing! This is an up and coming application that I expect will become very popular.

PayPal for Outlook – Open Outlook, click a button and you can send paypal payment requests without having to go to the website.

The Gimp (Photoshop) – Don’t have 30 trillion dollars for Photoshop? Try this free alternative.

Open Office Suite – Don’t have half a trillion dollars for Microsoft office? Try this free and very well supported alternative.

Stellarium Astronomy Free astronomy program thats simple and just plain cool. Get it!

MoodLogic – Costs a couple bucks but will create very advanced play lists from the music you have. Get the demo and I think you’ll end up buying it. It can even create playlists on Series 2 Tivos and portable devices. Kinda like the Ipod Mini?

Hoversnap Screen Capture – Free screen capture software. Intuitive and handy-dandy.

KeyTweak – Remap your keyboard for free – I HATE the Caps Lock key, I changed it to a shift key so now I don’t hit it by accident.

7 Zip Extractor – Extracts 7 or more different types of files, zip, rar, ace etc etc. Free.

Do you have recommendations for must have software? Stop by the Confessional, I’d love to hear about it. [What Do YOU Think? Comment on this Post!] [Testify!]