Some software has earned a permanent place on my computer - because it’s stable,  well done, useful. I just realised some programmes had barely a description so here’s an update.

Update: out of all these, I still use Total Commander, Object Desktop, PhotoImpact, Spinrite, Xnews, and poco (but Opera is my main mail client nowadays, poco got slow with the quantity of email in it).I still occasionally use Netcan and dreamweaver but havent upgraded, same for Slickedit.

Total Commander - some people have told me it looks dated but once they use it a while they stop complaining… It’s a file manager, gives access to the command line, can compare and synchroniye, search within files, zip and unzip and supports pretty much any type of compression, includes an ftp, can manage file extension associations etc. etc. etc. It has even plugins to do even more things (access third party file systems and encryption etc), Shareware, very good price for what you get.

Visual Slickedit - This is unashamedly a programmer’s editor and has features that are very cool if you’re a developer… and very ‘duh?‘ if you’re not. Shareware. Pricey but worth it, and yes of course my version is really legal!

Stardock’s Object Desktop. Anyone who gets frustrated at the way the basic windows GUI looks and works should try it. Unlike many similar products this suite of programs also lets you improve the way windows works, not just the looks. Shareware.

Ulead PhotoImpact - an excellent image editor and probably the best value for money. It’s a photo editor with all the trimmings and a very complete but easy interface. It was one of the first to offer drawing elements that remained “vectored” throughout the editing process (can change the text even after loads of effects have been applied, resize a box or bullet even after it have had textures and all applied to it). This makes it a very good web layout and graphics creator.

Tiny Personal Firewall - a free rule based stealth firewall, good for the people who want to control things in terms of IPs and ports as much as applications. Works on a gateway machine too, at least for a small 3 machine personal network. (Always check a lot of reviews before picking a firewall, and make sure the software matches your level of expertise. Zone Alarm, Sygate, McAfee, Norton all have good products. BlackIce works but only if you couple it with Trojan protection software.). No Longer Freeware.

NetScan Tools - Network tools to do quick checks - whois, dns dig, trace etc. Shareware.

Poco Mail - Post Road Mailer was just the perfect email program for me but as I can’t have that I had to look around a bit. Poco is a pretty darn good piece of shareware - Excellent multi account support, excellent filters, a scripting option i really should learn, very good security. Shareware.

XNews - a freeware newsreader that works well, if you want to work the way it wants. It’s lightweight but does everything. It archives selected posts forever, and also integrates with archive sites to search in the past. It supports mutliple servers and multiple profiles (identities and preferences) - could have a sig per newsgroup if I wanted! It runs out of its directory without interfering with windows which is always a good thing.

GrabClipSave - a barebones free screenshot utility that can do directX and openGL games. Bliss. Does as it’s name says. Freeware. There are better free ones if you do desktop only, but this is the only one which can do games.

Macromedia Dreamweaver Fontographer & Freehand, Can’t understand why Macromedia is letting Fontographer age like that, such a good tool! I use dreamweaver 4 ultradev and Freehand 9.

Comsocks NAT Gateway - now called comtun - worked out of the box. does everything very transparently and with good performance. Shareware. And very reasonably priced.

Spinrite. - the last resort when your disk misbehaves - and a way to prevent it from misbehaving. Shareware.