Essential Programs
Essential Programs
Many documents these days are supplied in the PDF format, and you
need a special reader to view them. The format was invented by Adobe
Systems, but their own reader is not only huge and slow, but,
amazingly, is also buggy! Use Foxit Reader instead. It’s fast, small and
accurate.
Irfanview is a picture viewer. It has long been a favourite because it
is small and fast, and it can open just about any type of picture
imaginable, and when it can’t there is usually a plug-in available to
do it. A very handy program to have.
When people want to send you a set of files together, it is often
convenient for them to bundle the files into one archive and then send
that. Quite often, they will be sent in RAR format. WinRar is the
program to use to extract the individual files from the archive.
Windows Media player is good, but there’s a lot of file types it can’t
play. It can’t play dvds for example. The VLC player can play most
things you throw at it with ease. Often we’ve tried to play obscure files
without success, only to find that VLC player can do it. It can also act as
a media server, streaming your broadcasts.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of video embedded in web pages that is in
the proprietary Quick Time format. The player for that is vast, and does
its’ best to take over your computer. To avoid that, this is a stripped-
down version which just plays the Quick Time files. Please only use it if
you have to! It comes bundled with the respected Media PLayer Classic.
This is another proprietary format you may have the misfortune to run
into. Again, the player for these RealPlayer format files was huge and
took over your machine. This, again, is a stripped down player. It also
comes with the Media Player Classic mentioned above, so if you get
this, there’s no need to install MPC again when you are installing it.
This is, we think, a fairly comprehensive set of programs, that should serve for any of your day to day needs. If
there’s a type of program you need that isn’t covered here, send us an email and we’ll see what we can do.
If you want to take your CD collection and convert it to mp3 files, then
Audiograbber is the tool you need. It uses a high quality codec, and the
conversion is entirely digital. It will also look up a free database for you
to get the names and album of all the tracks to save you the bother. We
don’t use any other software for mp3 conversion, there’s no need.
There are many free programs available on the internet that enhance the performance
of your system in some way. They either enhance or add functionality. Or are simply
the best around. Here are programs we use all the time, and they’re all best in class.
Click on the pic in each case to go to the download page. If it’s a Filehippo page, the
latest version of the program will be available via a link at the top right of the page.
AIMP is a free audio player with support for large number of formats
and playlists. It works with multiple playlists immediately, allows
creation of bookmarks and also has a playback queue. This is our
favourite player.
If you want to burn files to a dvd or cd, create an ISO copy of a disk,
create a music cd that will play in your mp3 player, or anything else you
can do, this is the program you want. ImgBurn does all this with ease -
and a sense of humour, to boot!
Audio
Media Players / File Viewers
Browsing / Telephony
Firefox. This is the second-most used web browser in the world. It is far
better and safer than the number one browser. (Check our browser test
on the search page.) It can also do more things via a vast number of
add-ons written for it by dedicated - and mostly unpaid - enthusiasts.
Get this and set it as your default browser, then set our search page as
the default home page!
The world famous Skype. Using this, you can have voice and video calls
to anyone else in the world who also has Skype on their computer. All
for free. And for a small fee, you can also phone mobiles and landlines.
If you have family spread across the globe, then this is definitely what
we would call essential!
Office / Illustration
If you are someone who hasn’t ended up with a copy of Microsoft Office
somehow (you can get the Home & Student version from our Top
Products page), then this is for you. It is an open source version, and it
is compatible with the Office file formats, although there can be glitches
here and there. This is a big download. Fast connection recommended!
If you have a flair for graphical design, then Inkscape is for you. It’s a
large and full-featured vector graphics program which is in the same
league as programs like Adobe Illustrator. It has a big learning curve,
but patience is rewarded for those with talent.
This link will download the Filehippo Update Checker, which will check
to see if you have the most recent versions of the programs that are
installed on your computer, and invite you to update any that need it.
The site is a very fast download site in its’ own right.
CCleaner (won’t tell you what the first ‘C’ stands for!) It’s job is to
remove rubbish that clogs up your system and can lead to trouble if
nothing is done about it. It cleans up the stuff left behind when you
uninstall or update programs, and makes sure that the registry is
correct.
Before running it, make sure the ‘Cookies’ option is unticked in both the
Windows and Applications columns.
If you ever create your own web site, the method that is used for
transferring the files from your computer to the server is known as the
File Transfer Protocol. Filezilla is the premier free ftp transfer program,
looking, as they all do, like Windows Explorer, with the home and
remote folders visible. Just supply the required info and then transfer
the files.
Utility Programs
Over time the files on your machine get scrambled and because of that
it takes increasingly long for your computer to open them. Defraggler
will put them back together again. Used regularly it helps keep your
computer in top condition. This is made by the same firm that brought
you CCleaner, above.
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