What is your favorite 'must-have' PC app?

Not a poll, obviously. Too many programs out there to list. But we all have our favorite program we either never leave alone, or else, we keep returning to it. There are so many gizmos around, I certainly never try 'em all. And what's more, I often test/try/trial a program & not learn to understand it or appreciate it in a short time frame or else its a lack of not using it enough to 'like it'.

So think of your favorite gizmo & give us all a short blurb on "why you like what you like".

 

I don't really install too many applications - Pidgin, Chrome, and maybe something for torrents or IRC.

I'd say EMET but I can definitely live without it on Linux.

So I'd go with Chrome - I like it because it exemplifies what I care about in a program ie: least privilege and performance.

 

Probably Firefox.

 

I use PDF-Viewer every day for my work.

 

I'm gonna agree with Hungry Man and say Chrome.
Chrome is in the trenches every day, and it offers the three S's... speed, security and simplicity.
Sandboxie is a true top performer, an almost can't-do-without. In fact I think the combo of Chrome and SBIE are hard to beat, but Chrome has moved into my Number One slot by being a steady performer.

 

Sandboxie; the best software application I've ever used !
I won't access the internet without it.

 

Firefox cause it's faster and safer than others like IE.

 

Sandboxie.

 

OpenOffice (or LibreOffice), specifically Writer.

- Despite everyone complaining about it, it's actually an excellent word processor
- It supports lots of formats, including *cough* open formats like ODT that MS Office is terrible with
- Its interface, while not exactly amazing, is fairly sane and not too confusing
- It's monetarily free
- It runs on both major platforms and on various forms of UNIX
- It Just Works

 

RadioSure
http://www.radiosure.com/

 

Hungry Man - Which distro do you run if you don't mind me asking?

 

WoW. What a little gem you got there PaulBB says AaLF as he tucks it away into his 'favorite sites folder'. :

 

Since questions like
"What is your favorite security app?"
have been asked here more times than I can count, I'm going to assume this refers to non-security apps.
How do you narrow this down to a single app when there's several that qualify as "can't do without", each filling a different role?
One of the first non-security apps I install is SeaMonkey. Been using it since its early days as the Mozilla Suite, before Firefox existed.
7zip gets installed very early too, as does HxD and NPP++. I can't imagine not having these.

 

Without question, Sandboxie is my all time favorite. Also, the old version of KMPlayer that I use and Firefox are kind of special to me.

Bo

 

I run Ubuntu 12.04.

 

Mint or Ubuntu. I like mint a little more than ubuntu.

 

I'm going to ignore the browser, as it is a necessity, everyone uses one. I am also going to ignore tools like Sandboxie because frankly I don't really "use" it, it just is there. Same with most security apps/techniques.

Instead I am going to focus on something I actually use. For me I could not name one, but a few.

Foxit pdf reader
WinRar/7zip
Q-Dir
Audacity
ImgBurn

Those are applications I use very frequently and put on any machine I use. Other applications are used so infrequently you often forget about them until you need them. For me a "must have" application is one that I interface with that will NOT be on most machines. That is why I don't include browsers, because every machine has one, but none have those apps listed above, so I "must have" them to feel right with the world

Sul.

 

I have favorite security applications but not going to count them as I can drop any one of them at any giving time.The favorite application that goes on all my systems is CCleaner and its been with me for years and has never caused me any problems.

 

My musthave software is a imaging software. For many years I have had Image for windows (reliability as main reason) as one core app in every new installation I do. Now I have another that has proven to be equally reliable, but the concept imaging is the thing for me.

 

Security apps aside......
My favorite 'must-have' PC app would have to be AdMuncher, just could not surf without it.

 

If we're discounting security, then for me it would be Process Explorer - just so I can periodically check what's doing what...

philby

 

We're not restricted to security apps in this thread. Although I noticed early on the Sandboxie enthusiasts are spruiking. Now that I'm a DefenseWall lad I think I see what all this gamesmanship is about.

Sandboxie & DefenseWall remind me of an old show called "The OddCouple". Felix was a tidy freak, similar to Sandboxie with its Compulsive Dustbin Disorder that everyone must empty ever so often. And DefenseWall is the no effort required couch potato, Oscar. Any nasties & programs installing without a permit are just left splattered all over, like squashed cockroaches on a pavement.

 

Shadow Defender is easily my fav. app of all (with IFW a close second). On the other side of the spectrum I don't care for IE9 and I'm seriously considering switching to Chrome, so I have a question for you Chrome users ...does IE9 remain on your PC as excess baggage, or what?

TS

 

Well it would have to be my imaging backup system.

it happens to be Paragon but really backup is number 1 having saved me so many times from foolishness mine or some software.

 

Foobar2000. Certain apps like my browser, image/PDF viewer, etc. can come and go, but I haven't found a music player that I like as much as Foobar2000 since I started using it several years ago.

Exact Audio Copy is another. If you are picky about making sure you ripped a CD correctly, EAC allows you to do it right.

I'd also say Steam, but that really shouldn't count because I can't just switch to some "alternative" without losing access to my games. Even if I stopped buying games from Valve, I'd still need to keep Steam to play my library.