MY FAVORITE WINDOWS SOFTWARE

Windows Commander v4.54 - Christian Ghisler
Shareware (popup) - 1.2Mb

The perfect explorer. You think the Microsoft Explorer is good enough for you, try this! It makes everything you do with your files go 10 times as fast. Instead of using the slow mouse for everything, you use your keyboard to quickly find the files you want. Then use another key to run it, edit, or copy it. Or select specific files and upload them (ftp). And it can handle archives (zip-files) like a normal directory. In the old days everybody used Norton Commander, but since the coming of Windows people are unaware of this Windows version. I couldn't live without it :-)

UltraEdit v8.00 - IDM Computer Solutions
Shareware (popup) - 1.7Mb

Another program I can't do without: UltraEdit. It's the Text Editor! It has everything you want! It can replace notepad (i use it as editor for wc (above): just F4 :) I use it for programming (it supports macros and stuff, so compiling is just ctrl+shift+0 for TI-86asm), html/php (this site was made with just ue.) plain text files (readmes) and even hex files! It can color words (fast!) like html commands, or even z80 (whatever you want). Also has spell checker, and (best of all) shortkeys for everything! It's highly configuable so ideal for me! Also runs faster than notepad (nearly instantaniously.) This program is sweeet.

IrfanView v3.12 - Irfan Skiljan
Freeware - 359kB

Excellent graphics viewer. It can view nearly any format. It's got some basic features like resizing, adjusting colors, rotating, etc. Can easily view directories (thumbnails). Everything has a shortkey, and best of all: it's f'n fast. Perfect to use together with wc. Really the best!

WinAmp v2.76 - Nullsoft
Freeware - 1Mb

It's the best music player for Windows. It can play any file (mp3, wav, mod, it, mid etc.) and looks great. Or actually the way you want! Many many skins are available for download. Also many plug-ins like for using a remote control, various effects, changing speeds, and visualisations: displaying your music, like characters dancing on the music, or neat blurry effects.

Bryce 4 - Metacreations
Retail only - 81MB

A pretty proggy to create your own landscapes. It's fun just to use it, but you can make some very nice pictures or even movies with it. It's a lot easier than any other 3D program (you can start making pretty things immediately). Of course it isn't as advanced (for anything beyond mere landscapes) but good enough. I made my Spheres series with it.

Very good sound editor. Must confess I'm not that much of a sound freak, but I have done some experimenting and editing (making my own sounds for games and stuff :-) This util is easy to use but still has quite some features. All kinds of effects, echoes, noise removal etc. I like it.

An excellent program to create nice 3D logos. Not as much options as a "real" 3D program, but it's easy+fast. You just enter your text(s), apply things like texture, lighting, effects and you're all done. That simple. You can even animate the texts (with nice effects like exploding and stuff.) Very good for the "amateur" (I made my SHIAR Homepage logos with it.)

A small tool for at least everybody with a website. It allows you to make your jpegs are small or pretty you choose. For example u can add extra color for colorful images like photos (or me spheres ;) or give much less quality to a specific unimportant section. Anyhow it just allows you to choose the best quality at the size you want.