View Full Version : Software you can't do without...
:salams
I thought I'd start a topic on software that I couldn't live without, and wanted to know what software you guys use that you couldn't live without...
LastXP - Modified version of Windows XP
NOD32 - Antivirus
ZoneAlarm Pro - Firewall
Photoshop - Photo Editor
Firefox - Web Browser
Flashget - Download Manager
Belarc Advisor - Tells you all your PC specs
RealPlayer - Media player
Acronis TrueImage - Backs up my HDD
Ace Utilities - loads of tools
:salams
LaTex (I use on a Mac - but available for all platforms) - useful for everything.....
Writeroom (Simple full screen text editor - Mac)
Some sort of Terminal
mashcaster
30-12-07, 07:04 PM
gnome
firefox
songbird
pidgin
gimp
aptana
mysql administrator
mysql query browser
chm viewer
gedit
vlc media player
cyber_abdullah
30-12-07, 08:36 PM
:salams
I thought I'd start a topic on software that I couldn't live without, and wanted to know what software you guys use that you couldn't live without...
LastXP - Modified version of Windows XP
NOD32 - Antivirus
ZoneAlarm Pro - Firewall
Photoshop - Photo Editor
Firefox - Web Browser
Flashget - Download Manager
Belarc Advisor - Tells you all your PC specs
RealPlayer - Media player
Acronis TrueImage - Backs up my HDD
Ace Utilities - loads of tools
:salams
I'm surprised you haven't heard about the fact that ZoneAlarm is an Israeli company which was condemned a while ago for spying on it's users and deliberately leaking private information from customers PCs to their servers in Israel.
If you actually monitor the zonealarm icon in the system tray, you'd notice that it regularly engages in activity even when you're browsing is idle.
A Perfect Spy? It seems that ZoneAlarm Security Suite has been phoning home, even when told not to. Last fall, InfoWorld Senior Contributing Editor James Borck discovered ZA 6.0 was surreptitiously sending encrypted data back to four different servers, despite disabling all of the suite’s communications options. Zone Labs denied the flaw for nearly two months, then eventually chalked it up to a “bug” in the software -- even though instructions to contact the servers were set out in the program’s XML code. - http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/01/13/73792_03OPcringley_1.html
Like, when I wanted a Firewall and was too tight to pay for one, I turned to Checkpoint's little freebie Zone Alarm. It sits there between you and the Internet and lets you know when someone's trying to sneak in through your backdoor or when a program you're running tries to connect to the Web for no apparent reason. When you're as techie as me - not very - you just have to trust it.
Of course, Checkpoint's an Israeli company and as a foreign journalist working in Israel you know the hyperactive security services here would like to keep tabs on you. And you know that they do. It has been confirmed to me by a security sources here that mobile phone conversations I have had have been listened to - and in circumstances which I won't reveal, the contents of a call I have been involved in have actually been relayed back to me. -
http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2006/01/22/is-your-firewall-spying-on-you
The best firewall by far, is Comodo Firewall. It is free and it recently was rated 1st in the 2007 firewall tests. The Comodo company is the 2nd largest internet certificate authority, after VeriSign.
Download it here:
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
This free firewall received top ratings for stopping unwanted outbound connections.
ZoneAlarm may be extremely popular, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best firewall you can find.
Many people believe that Comdo Firewall Pro takes that prize, largely because it was rated as the top firewall by the independent testing site Matousec.
Matousec found that it offered the highest level of "anti-leak" protection -- in essence, a measurement of a firewall's effectiveness. Comodo offers true two-way firewall protection, is extremely configurable, and unlike most other firewalls, gives you a great view into your system and Internet connection as well. It's free, as well. - http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,63762-order,1-page,1/description.html
I'm surprised you haven't heard about the fact that ZoneAlarm is an Israeli company which was condemned a while ago for spying on it's users and deliberately leaking private information from customers PCs to their servers in Israel.
If you actually monitor the zonealarm icon in the system tray, you'd notice that it regularly engages in activity even when you're browsing is idle.
The best firewall by far, is Comodo Firewall. It is free and it recently was rated 1st in the 2007 firewall tests. The Comodo company is the 2nd largest internet certificate authority, after VeriSign.
Download it here:
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
:eek: :jkk: Aakhi
cyber_abdullah
30-12-07, 08:46 PM
:eek: :jkk: Aakhi
salaam
You should immediately uninstall Zonealarm, clean it from the registry completely with something like CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com/), and install comodo firewall. Comodo has a lot of initial screens, but once the firewall learns your browsing patterns, it settles down. It is the best.
salaam
You should immediately uninstall Zonealarm, clean it from the registry completely with something like CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com/), and install comodo firewall. Comodo has a lot of initial screens, but once the firewall learns your browsing patterns, it settles down. It is the best.
:wswrwb: Aakhi, do you use Comodo ?
*Abdulah*
30-12-07, 09:07 PM
itunes
Epiphany Web Browser
Pidgin Messenger
Songbird
Openoffice
GNU Paint
GIMP
pidgin, gimp, inkscape, firefox, flash plugin
*Abdulah*
30-12-07, 09:15 PM
pidgin, gimp, inkscape, firefox, flash plugin
I would use FF but it just looks ugly compared to Epiphany.
I would use FF but it just looks ugly compared to Epiphany.
it's the same thing u know. but epiphany is better because its mroe optimized for gnome. both firefox and epiphany (successor to galeon) use the gecko engine.
*Abdulah*
30-12-07, 09:21 PM
it's the same thing u know. but epiphany is better because its mroe optimized for gnome. both firefox and epiphany (successor to galeon) use the gecko engine.
I know but epiphany is simplier to use, but FF is needed to install plugins. I have a large dislike of Konquerer.
it's the same thing u know. but epiphany is better because its mroe optimized for gnome. both firefox and epiphany (successor to galeon) use the gecko engine.
Br Belal - is there a linux distribution for use as a desktop machine on a slow computer? 300 MHz or so? I've got an old ppc lying around...
Jazak Allah.
*Abdulah*
30-12-07, 09:23 PM
Br Bilal - is there a linux distribution for use as a desktop machine on a slow computer? 300 MHz or so? I've got an old ppc lying around...
Jazak Allah.
I doubt it would work. It says that most Linux distros need at least 250ram and at least pentium 3 processor.
Br Belal - is there a linux distribution for use as a desktop machine on a slow computer? 300 MHz or so? I've got an old ppc lying around...
Jazak Allah.
wa feeka baarakallahu,
for 300Mhz, u could run a XFCE based distro. U can try Xubuntu it should be good, but u need a good amount of ram (maybe 256MB atleast). i heard XFCE is light, but not that light. u can try enlightment aswell, it looks beautiful but has a footprint as small as or smaller than XFCE.
without even testing it on ur system, i can tell u damn small linux would fly on ur system but it's kinda ugly. i dont recommend it unless all u'll be doing is using firefox and dont care about how the desktop looks. same with puppy linux.
links here:
http://www.xubuntu.org/ << ubuntu based, uses XFCE
http://www.puppylinux.org/ << extremely small, can run well on 166mhz pc
http://damnsmalllinux.org/ << small footprint
http://www.thinkgos.com/ << ubuntu based, uses enlightnment
btw, these are all liveCD, so when u run it through live cd, it may seem a litte slow but when u install it, it's a lot faster. if u install any of these, post up how fast u find it.
use ibnmuslim.com =]
as salamu alaikum
*Abdulah*
30-12-07, 09:48 PM
wa feeka baarakallahu,
for 300Mhz, u could run a XFCE based distro. U can try Xubuntu it should be good, but u need a good amount of ram (maybe 256MB atleast). i heard XFCE is light, but not that light. u can try enlightment aswell, it looks beautiful but has a footprint as small as or smaller than XFCE.
without even testing it on ur system, i can tell u damn small linux would fly on ur system but it's kinda ugly. i dont recommend it unless all u'll be doing is using firefox and dont care about how the desktop looks. same with puppy linux.
links here:
http://www.xubuntu.org/ << ubuntu based, uses XFCE
http://www.puppylinux.org/ << extremely small, can run well on 166mhz pc
http://damnsmalllinux.org/ << small footprint
http://www.thinkgos.com/ << ubuntu based, uses enlightnment
btw, these are all liveCD, so when u run it through live cd, it may seem a litte slow but when u install it, it's a lot faster. if u install any of these, post up how fast u find it.
use ibnmuslim.com =]
as salamu alaikum
Fluxbuntu is lighter than X.
Fluxbuntu is lighter than X.
it is...but i used it once and i realized how much i hate fluxbox window manager.
i haven't found anyone that actually likes it.
btw, these are all liveCD, so when u run it through live cd, it may seem a litte slow but when u install it, it's a lot faster. if u install any of these, post up how fast u find it.
use ibnmuslim.com =]
as salamu alaikum
Wa'laikum Al-Salam!
Thank you very much for those...gos looks good, as does xubuntu, I'll give them a go on a x86 pc I've got lying around (it's running clarkconnect - guarding the house with dansguardian - tried setting up FreeBSD on it but the transparent proxy stuff was such a pain, just gave up!).
Pity none of these have ppc versions - the only sensible one I think is the last version of Ubuntu but it feels really bloated...
I'll come to ibnmuslim.com :)
iTunes, Firefox and VLC Player.
Suliman
31-12-07, 01:00 AM
First of all I just uninstalled ZoneAlarm.....
Apps I can't live without:
Launchy (http://www.launchy.net/) - Keystroke launcher. My all time favorite app!!!
Flock (http://www.flock.com/) - Social browser
iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/) - Podcasts, nasheeds and lectures
Rapget (http://www.rapget.com/en/index.html) - For downloading flims, programs from Rapidshare
Winrar (http://www.rarlab.com/) - File compression & extraction
Notepad++ (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm) - For coding XHTML and CSS
Snitter (http://snook.ca/snitter/) - Twitter tool
Avast! (http://www.avast.com/) - Antivirus
Photoshop (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/index.html) - Graphic utility
Picasa2 (http://picasa.google.com/) - Image organization
VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/) - Will play ANY media you throw at itIf I think of any others, I'll add them later. :up:
AbuMubarak
31-12-07, 02:35 AM
thanks for this info
For me I basically live in the following:
Quicksilver
Textmate (editor for Mac)
Eclipse
iTunes
Aperture
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