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  • Useful Windows Software

    This is an organized list of all the software mentioned in the most recent incarnation of the perennial “post some cool software” thread in SH/SC. In particular, the thread this list was based on was “Share your recent ‘cool programs’ that are keepers”. A previous thread can be seen here [requires archives access], or here as an html document.

    Note that the previous thread was for all operating systems, and this one was specifically Windows software. As such, please keep this article to Windows software only. The “Software_Gold” article over at Applepedia accomplishes much the same thing as this article, but for OSX software. And for Linux software, we now have UsefulLinuxSoftware.

    Table of content
    Windows Enhancement
    Shiny Chrome
    Internet Essentials
    IM / IRC
    Text Editors
    Desktop Search Tools
    Audio Encoding / Decoding
    Video Encoding / Decoding
    Image Editing / Viewing
    Security / Encryption
    Diagnostics / Monitors
    Malware Removal Utilities
    FTP Clients
    Productivity Tools
    Miscellaneous Utilities

    Windows Enhancement
    Windows isn’t Windowsy-enough for some people. These are apps to add or modify some kind of feature.

    TaskSwitch XP – Free/Open Source – Pretty Alt+Tab replacement tool with previews for XP
    Logon Loader – Free – Logon Screen changer for Windows XP
    Microsoft Powertoys for Windows XP – Free – Latest in the ongoing suite of neat little apps Microsoft has released to go along with Windows. Of special note are ClearType Tuner, Alt+Tab Replacement, and TweakUI.
    ShellToys XP – Shareware ($53) – Collection of context-menu . . things . .
    Entbloess – Shareware ($8, free for 100 uses) – Yet another task switcher for XP and 2000, brings OSX’s Exposé feature to windows.
    StrokeIt – Free – OS-Wide customizable mouse gestures.
    Winkey – Free – Customizable hotkey program.
    HoeKey – Free – *Ridiculously* customizable hotkey program.
    SharpKeys – Free – Lets you remap any key to another key.
    HotKeyControl XP – Free – Another keymapping app. Requires VB 6.0 Runtimes.
    Clickie – Free – Adds “Copy Path Name To Clipboard” and “Open MSDOS Prompt” to your context menu.
    TrueLaunchBar – Free – Super Ultra Beefed-Up Taskbar of Doom.
    Sound Control – Free – Replaces the default Windows sound mixer with a new one, with customizable hotkeys, and other bonus features.
    Joe – Free – ANOTHER Alt+Tab enhancer.
    Sizer – Free – Lets you resize any window to a specific exact customizable size.
    MultiDesktop Manager – Free – Virtual Desktop Program.
    TrayIt – Free – Lets you shove any program into the systray, if they like it or not.
    sDesk – Free / Open Source – Virtual Window Manager for Windows. No longer being developed.
    AllSnap – Free – AllSnap adds window-snapping functionality to all windows. It’s neat and tiny and good.
    X-Setup Pro – Shareware ($8) – Comprehensive Windows tweaking tool. Gives you access to tweak a ton of stuff TweakUI doesn’t list.
    Tclock2 – Free / Open Source – Taskbar Enhancer. Lets you mess with the start menu, your clock, set alarms, etc.
    WinRoll – Free / Open Source – Adds “Rolling” or “Windowshade” mode to all windows.
    Clipomatic – Free – Expands the capability of the clipboard, allowing for multiple clipboards, permanent clips, etc.
    Icon Restore – Free – Lets you save and restore your desktop icon layout in two clicks.
    Chameleon Clock – Free – Another Systray Clock Replacement.
    ieSpell – Free – Too much of a mouthbreathing retard to learn how to spell? Let computers do it for you!
    xplorer2 – Shareware ($35, Free “lite” version available) – Windows Explorer replacement, with a TON of built in extra features.
    SlickRun – Free – Floating window that allow you to open any program in about 4 keystrokes with user defined shortcuts.

  • Shiny Chrome

    For SOME people, just adding actual features isn’t enough. You’ve got to lower your UI closer to the ground, put a giant chrome tailpipe on it, get yo’ self some phat chrome spinnaz, add 27 extra gauges on your dash, wait what were we talking about?

    Y’z Dock – Free – OSX-style dock, for Windows XP. Widely accepted as the best of the assorted dock utilities out there. Note: there is no official site for Y’z Dock due to legal issues with Apple.
    RK Launcher – Free – Another OSX-style bar for Windows. This one takes docklets from both Y’zDock and Objectbar! Still in Beta, but MUCH better than Y’zDock.
    Samurize – Free – You need to know your hard drive free space percentage all the time, right?
    Random Desktop – Free – Wallpaper Randomizer for all versions of Windows.
    Wallpaper Master – Free – Another Freeware Wallpaper changer. Customizable, to change wallpapers whenever you want it to, either automatically or on-demand.
    Rainmeter – Free – “Computer Hardware Information Tool”. Like Samurize, but made by the guy behind Rainlendar.
    Konfabulator – Free – Everyone’s favourite widget runner. Made irrelevant for Mac by the advent of Dashboard, but still works perfectly fine on Windows. Now owned (and set free) by Yahoo!.
    Kapsules – Free – Like Konfabulator, but not.
    CustomBar – Shareware ($20) – Like Rainmeter, Samurize, etc, BUT IT’S A BAR. That makes it totally different, right guys?
    CrowBar – Free / Open Source – Another bar-type monitor thingie, but this one was made by CTZ, so that makes it 😎
    WinBar – Free – Like Rainmeter, Samurize, CustomBar, Crowbar, and 8 billion other applications.
    SmartBarXP – Free – What’s that? You want another bar statistic application? You’re in luck!
    WKrelleM – Free – Yet another needless chrome stat information bar thing, this time ported from *nix.
    DesktopSidebar – Free – Gaudy chrome, Longhorn Style
    ToolBox – Free – A launchbar/box but shiny and translucent.

  • Highly Recommended Free Software

    These are your best bets, really. Free, Modern, Secure, and Actively developed.

    PunBB

    PunBB is a free lightweight opensource forum system, geared towards being simple and straightforward while still including most of the features expected from something like phpBB.

    • Links: Official Site, Official Forums, Semi-Official Modding Community / Database
    • Security Record: Very Good. Exploits are rare, generally low in severity, and get patched in a very timely fashion.
    • Spam Protection: Project Founder Rickard Andersson is strictly against CAPTCHAs in all forms, and refuses to add one by default in PunBB on the grounds that it ruins accessibility. Luckily, this mod with these further tweaks and a readable font like DejaVu can result in a rather strong defense against spam.
    • Modding: PunBB mods are generally installed the Hard Way by editing some source files and running an installer PHP script to make any necessary database changes. There’s a wide variety of mods available at PunRes, but not all of them will work immediately since installer scripts have a hard-coded max version and people seem to rarely update that. Luckily, any mod made for the 1.2.x line should work for any 1.2.x version of PunBB, you just have to edit the max version in the install_mod.php to match what you have.
    • Theming: PunBB Themes are purely CSS based, not template based like phpBB or SMF. This can be somewhat daunting if you have minimal CSS experience, but if you do have CSS experience it’s amazing. PunRes has a decent amount of themes available in their database, but if you just want to tweak the colors there’s a site called Spinkbb that lets you interactively muck around with the forum colors and ends up spitting out a custom .css file for you.
    • Support: The Official PunBB forums are quite helpful in troubleshooting, and it’s not uncommon for Rickard to show up in a thread and tell you exactly how to do whatever you want to do. Then again, it’s also not uncommon to come across some bug that you might be stuck troubleshooting yourself. Luckily, PunBB is very logically laid out, which makes troubleshooting quite easy if you’re relatively competent when it comes to PHP/MySQL.
    • Upgrading: PunBB upgrades like a lot of complex PHP scripts. Download changed-files-only package, upload changed files, run an included update script to mess with the database if necessary. Only pot-holes to watch for are that any files you modified due to mods either aren’t changed or are re-patched once you upgrade.
    • Migration: If you’re jumping ship from from some other forum system to PunBB, a nice converter script is available that will migrate your old database to a new shiny PunBB one. It can convert from pretty much all major boards, including everything in this article save for Vanilla (too new) and UBB.threads, with varying levels of success. phpBB, for instance, will migrate users, threads, posts and postcounts, but things like Ranks, administrators, user groups, etc are all up to you. Migrating the things it misses isn’t very difficult if you’re good with MySQL, though.

     

    Simple Machines

    SMF is a more advanced forum package compared to things like PunBB. Rather than attempting to be a streamlined package, SMF is geared more towards being a complete 1:1 replacement for systems like phpBB, but done right. SMF has its roots in YaBB, by way of the short-lived “YaBB SE” which was a port of YaBB to PHP. The devs decided to scrap all that YaBB stuff and start from scratch as Simple Machines.

    • Links: Official Site, Official Forums, Official Mod/Theme Database
    • Security Record: Pretty clean. This shouldn’t be a sign that their software is bulletproof, though, just that no one has tried to seriously attack it yet.
    • Spam Protection: None built in, however mods are available like this one. Some recent posts seem to indicate it may have some bugs at the moment.
    • Modding: Mods for SMF are package based. This means no editing of source files and no desync when you upgrade. Neat.
    • Theming: Themes are installed via the same package based system. If you want to make your own, you can either use the web-based system in the admin panel or make your own offline. Either way, it uses a full templating system, similar to YaBB.
    • Support: SMF has a rather extensive support section, featuring a detailed FAQ, a Wiki-based Online Manual, and then of course there’s the forums you can search.
    • Upgrading: Upgrading works just about like all other boards. Upload stuff, run an upgrade script. But since mods and themes are package based, you don’t have to worry about file desync. Plus there are a bunch of nice extras in the upgrade script, like integrated database backup and the ability to putt the forum into maintenance mode during the upgrade.
    • Migration: SMF has a couple converters available, covering most common forum systems. Not sure how good they are, though. You should probably be ready with some manual SQL action.

     

    Vanilla

    Vanilla is a very new forum system [initially released 1 JUL 2006] that attempts to completely reinvision the forum system. So much so that it probably isn’t what you’re looking for. Don’t expect a lot of structure and don’t expect to use it for a high-volume forum.

    • Links: Official Site, Official Forums, Official Mod/Theme Database
    • Security Record: Technically impeccable. However, this is just due to the fact that it’s so new. phpBB didn’t have any exploits in the wild after a month, either.
    • Spam Protection: Vanilla’s idea of “Spam Protection” is “force the admin to manually approve all registrations”. Brilliant, guys. Brilliant.
    • Modding: Vanilla really plays up the whole Modding thing. Vanilla mods (called “extensions”) are all self contained like SMF, but . . uh . . they all seem to do stuff I can’t imagine anyone ever caring about. Like this amazing To-Do List. A forum with a To-Do list. Just what I need.
    • Theming: Since it’s new and all, there are apparently only four themes. One’s the default, one’s a very minor mod, and one’s a placeholder, leaving one actual theme. Super.
    • Support: Pretty simple, you’ve got some docs, you’ve got some forums. Party on.
    • Upgrading / Migration: As far as I can tell, this stuff is nonexistant. I assume upgrading instructions might show up when there’s a version to upgrade to, but Migration stuff might take awhile.
    • Other Stuff: Vanilla only supports PHP/MySQL. Sorry Postgresql users! Sorry SQLite crew! You get to sit this Web2.0 shitfest out.

  • Welcome to the SH/SC Wiki!

    Welcome
    Welcome to the SH/SC Wiki! This Wiki contains a collection of technical articles written by members of the Something Awful Forums.

    Featured Articles

    UsefulWindowsSoftware is a huge list of useful freeware and shareware Windows software.
    PCPartsPickingGuide helps you decide what PC parts to get for your next upgrade.
    foobar2000 is unsurprisingly all about the foobar2000 audio player.
    DataRecovery for when your cat accidentally deletes all of your MP3s.

    For a full list of articles, please see the PageIndex or use the search feature to find topics of interest.

    Writing
    If you’d like to write an article, please use your AuthDB username and password to log in. See the thread in SH/SC for more information. You can view a guide to Wiki text formatting if you aren’t familiar with it.

  • ShscWiki

    Welcome

    Welcome to the SH/SC Wiki! This Wiki contains a collection of technical articles written by members of the Something Awful Forums.

    Featured Articles

    • UsefulWindowsSoftware is a huge list of useful freeware and shareware Windows software.
    • PCPartsPickingGuide helps you decide what PC parts to get for your next upgrade.
    • foobar2000 is unsurprisingly all about the foobar2000 audio player.
    • DataRecovery for when your cat accidentally deletes all of your MP3s.
    • ForumSoftwareGuide helps you pick forum software for your website.
    • HeadphoneGuide guides you through the world of headphones.
    • NewsGroups explains the arcane magic of USENET.

    For a full list of articles, please see the PageIndex or use the search feature to find topics of interest.

    Writing

    If you’d like to write an article, please use your AuthDB username and password to log in. See the thread in SH/SC for more information. You can view a guide to Wiki text formatting if you aren’t familiar with it.

  • ForumSoftwareGuide

    Forum Software Comparison Guide

    As of late, the SH/SC Thread of the Week has been “HEY GUYS WHAT FORUM SHOULD I USE?!”. In the past, the answer has begrudgingly been “Just use phpBB, because it’s free and not too broken”, but phpBB has taken a significant nosedive in quality, and several quite suitable replacements have cropped up in its place. Apart from the freebies there’s also the industry standards that have never gone away. In this article I’ll be outlining the systems worth talking about, some essential mods for them, and weighing all their assorted pros and cons.

    What You Need to Know

    Forums are pretty complex things, and before diving in there are a few things you need to take into consideration to figure out what system is best for you.

    1. Security – This should be your #1 concern. What kind of security track record does a given system have? How frequently are exploits released? How quickly do the developers respond? How easy is the upgrade process?
    2. Customizability – Mods and Themes are often important, as it’s rare that you’ll find a forum with everything you could ever want out-of-the-box, so an active modding and theming community plus good documentation for both will be important.
    3. Price – Do you really want to pay for the right to use a given forum system on a yearly basis? Is paid support really important to you?
    4. Spam Protection – Without some kind of CAPTCHA system, most forum systems are open to Spambots auto-registering accounts and plastering your forums with all manner of spam. Some forums have built-in CAPTCHAs, while others require mods.
    5. Experience – How much experience do you have with PHP? How about some form of SQL? It will help immensely to have experience with both, especially if you’re going to be looking to do any level of customization. Some systems like SMF are a bit friendlier to people with less coding experience, but a good background is going to help you across the board.
    6. Security – Yes I know it’s here twice, because it needs to be. You need to be reminded that developers fixing code is just half of the security process. You have to know that if you’re going to run a forum, or any kind of publicly accessable software application on the internet, you have to stay up to date on it. Get on their release mailing list, bookmark their Secunia product page, check out milw0rm every once in awhile. BE PARANOID. Just remember that the upgrade you decide to skip or postpone because “Aw man, it’s Friday afternoon, I don’t feel like upgrading my forum installation” will be the one that would have patched an exploit that some script kiddy’s worm will be using that weekend to turn your server into molten slag. I wish I was making this up.