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Readers' ten favorite Windows programs

Summary: Two weeks ago, I published a list of my 10 favorite Windows programs of all time. The response was overwhelming and refreshingly enthusiastic, as commenters offered their recommendations and suggestions and opinions. I’ve gathered the best from that thread and turned them into this follow-up Top 10 list.

Ed Bott

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By Ed Bott

Two weeks ago, I published a list of my 10 favorite Windows programs of all time. The response was overwhelming and refreshingly enthusiastic, as commenters offered their recommendations and suggestions and opinions. I’ve gathered the best from that thread and turned them into this follow-up Top 10 list.

First up is Microsoft's OneNote. Most descriptions of OneNote fall short of describing its sheer breadth. This screen shot shows the basics: notebooks on the left, divided into sections, and then into pages. This recipe was sent to OneNote from a web page with one click.

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Topics: Windows, Operating Systems, Software

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10 comments
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  • Belarc Adviser

    This program has been useful to me--it's a great source of info on all kinds of stuff, like licenses for my software.
    skyfrog
    Reply Vote

  • Software is God science

    Any idea from text programs to art,music and video can be brought into existence with software.Using this software is difficult enough; writing it must be at the impossible.How is software really written?We never get to see a program like Paint Shop Pro being written from beginning to end.How could anybody possibly know all of the rules and procedures?God memory.
    BALTHOR
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Belarc Advisor (Readers' ten favorite Windows programs)

    Haha, that's a good one :D

    I've been writing software from A-Z, often enough from scratch, since the end of the 1970s. I wrote major systems for Fortune 10 companies, large banks etc.

    I also wrote several development frameworks (about one every 10 years) supporting the writing of Software.

    Trust me, it's not godly, it's just good practice:

    - Good analysis of the problem
    - Good choice of tools, starting with the programming language (I always avoided C/C++ and anything similar to C like the pest)
    - Readable code
    - Well structured programs
    - Consistency

    If you follow those rules, you'll be able to understand the code even 20 years later and you don't have to remember much, you just have to know where to look for the appropriate information.
    stefan.metzeler@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Belarc Advisor (Readers' ten favorite Windows programs)

    After dealing with yet another virus and having one of my pc's hard drives fail (second time in two years!) I decided to buy an Apple iMac computer. There are two programs that I miss. Number one is IRFAN view. Which is ironic since iMac is supposed to be the computer for graphics. iPhoto and iView simply don't compare to irfan view.

    The other program I miss is Weatherbug.
    crabitha
    Reply Vote

    • try another switch

      I agree with you about Irfanview... I switched to Linux (Puppy Linux in particular), then use wine (window program runner) with irfanview without a hitch!

      I also am able to run treepad, and, many other programs that I didn't want to leave...

      Happy hunting now that we are out of micro-soft world!
      tomhank
      Reply Vote

      • Linux and Mac users

        Please go bore someone else. Most people that read zdnet are aware of Macs and Linux but why waste your time on a Windows blog. Nobody cares, been there, done that, there's nothing much to see.
        marks055@...
        Reply Vote

  • SIW is way better

    SIW is better, way better
    marks055@...
    Reply Vote

    • What is SIW?

      This comment without a link or some context really doesn't make much sense...
      Ed Bott
      Reply Vote

      • SIW is a Belarc altenative

        SIW (System Information Windows) is a nifty alternative to Belarc. It shows all kinds of system hardware and software information, (including passwords stored in IE - kind of scary)

        http://www.gtopala.com/
        SkiddMarxx
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Belarc Advisor (Readers' ten favorite Windows programs)

    I would add MP3 Tag Studio 3 and Jim Willsher's Bulk Rename Utiltiy. Both are shareware.
    walms@...
    Reply Vote
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