Software I couldnt do without - updated

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.

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