04 Jul 06
Best of Windows Microsoft
Although I recently bought a mac, I still have to use my Windows XP laptop to edit audio on. Now this is a two part post, the second will deal with software comparisons between Mac and Windows, but this one is looking at the best software for Windows.
- Web Browsing
Firefox; every time it has to be Mozilla Firefox. With all the amazing extentions that you can add to Firefox, it is the best browsing tool in existence. - Email
Although I really like Gmail, I still need to have somewhere to pick up my WilcosWorld emails, and for that I use (Mozilla again), Thunderbird. Simple, works like Firefox, fast, and isn't Outlook- perfect. - Music
Winamp, from Nulsoft plays MP3s, WAV, MIDI, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, WMA... you get the idea. The later versions of Winamp also play video, but personally I prefer VLC for video playback. - Web Design & FTP
Dreamweaver. The daddy of WYSIWYG editors, as well as the best raw editors on the market. Costs and arm and a leg, but you gotta love Pirate Bay. For FTP(ing), I recommend FireFTP, or WS_FTP Pro. - Note Taking
It has to be notepad, it's the simple text editor that has been included with Microsoft Windows since 1985. Notepad is one of the few programs that Microsoft hasn't managed to screw up. - General Maintenance
There are loads of programs for keeping your PC running well, but the one that seems to do the best job is CCleaner. Free and quick, it does stuff that gets Windows to run faster, more secure, stable, and freeing up valuable hard disk space.