Here’s a list of some cool and useful stuff i’ve compiled for Holly’s brother. I thought i’d share it here.

You never have to worry about spyware, adware, viruses, trojans, worms, or other malware, because i’ve already used this stuff, plus i only use apps and sites that are already well-known to be pretty friggin’ excellent. Every one of these sites and apps come with a solid reputation.

All of this stuff is 100% free, except for a few that you can optionally pay for, like Reaper (audio recording). Naturally, i do not recommend downloading pirated software or media content.

Awesome free stuff you have to have, or at least need to know about:

System utilities and just plain excellent basics

• CCleaner
  • http://www.ccleaner.com/
  • Formerly known as Crap Cleaner, this thing wipes out a great deal of the bad stuff that gets into your system
• AVG antivirus
  • http://free.avg.com/
  • free antivirus, one of the best (much better than McAfee or Symantec or the paid ones)
• Avast antivirus
  • http://www.avast.com/
  • also free, also one of the best (also much better than the paid AV apps)
• OpenOffice
  • http://www.openoffice.org/
  • free, open source replacement for MS Office. Includes everything you need!
• Spybot S&D
  • http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
  • Wicked awesome anti-malware
• Firefox, Opera, Chrome
  • Because Internet Exploder just plain sucks and is not secure, try one of these awesome browsers:
  • http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
    • My favorite, you can download every useful plugin imaginable for it. Would you like it to do something different, or look different? No problem.
      • Visit http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox for anything you could ever need it to do.
  • http://www.opera.com/
  • http://www.google.com/chrome

Cool, useful stuff for your desktop

• Rocketdock (desktop dock)
  • http://rocketdock.com/
  • Clean your desktop by putting everything in a fancy-schmancy dock. Lots of cool goodies for it!
• Rainmeter (system monitor)
  • http://www.ipi.fi/~rainy/legacy.html
  • Able to display all kinds of system stats.
  • See also: http://customize.org/transmothra/gallery – i made a config for it.
    • Fits on screens 1440 pixels wide but can be modified.
    • You might have to go into display properties to crank up your display resolution.
• Stickies (post-it notes)
  • http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/
  • Like having Post-It notes for your desktop. Even comes with an alarm/timer. You can save, send, and share too.

Audio, video, media

• Audacity (audio)
  • http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
  • Great for recording audio, also has some cool plugins for editing/warping sound.
• Reaper (audio)
  • http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
  • Like having ProTools, only better. Trent Reznor uses it.
• foobar2000 (music)
  • http://www.foobar2000.org/
  • Great music player, and lightweight.
• VLC (media player)
  • http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
  • Great video player. Looks daunting, but all you have to do is play video or audio files. It’s one of the few that can open almost any file type. Can also convert, stream, save, etc.
• GIMP (images)
  • http://www.gimp.org/
  • Like Photoshop, but a little scarier-looking. A couple of hours playing with it and you’ll get the hang of it. Powerful.
• Irfanview (images)
  • http://www.irfanview.com/
  • Great, fast image viewer. Can also edit, make icons, convert, batch process, etc., etc., etc.
• DVDFlick (DVD authoring)
  • http://www.dvdflick.net/
  • Put your legally questionable downloaded movies on DVD with menus and everything! Not the best, but really easy to use.
• uTorrent (downloading)
  • http://www.utorrent.com/
  • Download anything you want with this.
  • Best sites for searching are:
    • http://www.mininova.org/
    • http://btjunkie.org/
    • Obviously, use at your own risk. Read comments, look at details, and install anti-malware apps first. BTjunkie even has icons for # of ‘good/bad’ reports per torrent, so make sure to check them out.
      • You can use Peer Guardian to hide your IP address while you’re downloading legally questionable content. Not perfect, but better than nothing.
        • http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/
• TVersity (media center)
  • http://tversity.com/
  • Like Windows Media Center, but free and better. Download podcasts and videocasts and share your video across your home network.
  • If you have an Xbox or some other device for your TV, you can even watch your hard-drive movies/music/photos on TV. Super awesome.

Web sites that you will presently become completely, slobber-mouth addicted to, because they are awesome and will make you WIN.

• Google Calendar
  • http://www.google.com/calendar/
  • You can even remind yourself of appointments via email or SMS to your mobile phone! You can also share calendar events and add other people’s events to yours.
• Lifehacker
  • http://lifehacker.com/
  • Learn how to make life easier, cooler, better, and awesomer. Comes in many flavors, from real-world DIY projects to digital shortcuts
  • I really cannot say enough good about this site. Some of the best tips, tricks, and suggestions i’ve ever found for all areas of life, both digital and in meatspace.
  • Seriously. Wicked awesome.
    • See also: Instructables (my favorite Instructable ever: How to perfectly fold T-shirts in seconds)
• Facebook
  • http://facebook.com/
  • Find old friends. Avoid others. Lots of dumb widgets, and you can “poke” people until their brains bleed. Annoying, but awesome too.
• Picasa
  • http://picaseweb.google.com/
  • Share photos, sync online with folders, etc.
• Flickr
  • http://flickr.com/
  • Photo sharing
• Gmail
  • http://mail.google.com/
  • Best email app ever.
• Google Reader
  • http://www.google.com/reader/
  • Keep up with news, blogs, or anything with an RSS feed with this. Addictive and awesome.
• Twitter
  • http://twitter.com/
  • Like a micro-sized blog. Send “tweets” from your cell phone or via web.
• WordPress
  • http://wordpress.com/
  • Actual blogging. Best platform there is. Very customizable.
• Indeed
  • http://indeed.com/
  • Job search
• LinkedIn
  • http://linkedin.com/
  • social networking, career-oriented.
• Craigslist
  • http://craigslist.com/
  • Pretty much everything. Ugly but made out of 100% pure WIN!
• BoingBoing
  • http://boingboing.net/
  • “A directory of wonderful things” – weird, cool stuff, plus news you might not hear about elsewhere.
• Digg
  • http://digg.com/
  • Social news site. Most popular submitted stories rise to the top. Addictive, interesting, and easy.
• last.fm
  • http://last.fm/
  • Social networking, music-style. Also download their desktop player. With that you can play music tagged with descriptive keywords. For fun, try typing in “unlistenable.”

If you’re ever looking for killer software (or a web site) that does ‘X, Y, and/or Z,’ just let me know and i’ll point you to something good, safe, fun, and useful.

My username is “transmothra” on most sites – if you run into me online be sure to say hello!