A little while back, Neowin news writer Andrew Lyle went ahead and asked the community about their favorite Windows Mobile and iPhone applications. It seemed fitting to repeat this process, with a larger scale in mind; the top 10 favorite Windows applications. I'm not going to bore you with a witty introduction or lame jokes, so let's just jump straight into it, starting from #10.
#10: TuneUp Utilities 2009
TuneUp Utilities tends to be the crowd favorite when it comes to performance optimization software. It has a crazy range of features, and it wraps them all up into a slick interface. I use it myself, daily, and have done for years now. You can do a lot of stuff with it... there's defragmenting tools, UI customization features, a hard drive error checker and you can even go and change your boot screen if you are so inclined. If you feel like having a bit of a read, you can check out the Neowin review of this program right here. If reviews aren't your style, you can head over to the official website for the product and download the free trial.
#9: VLC Media Player
VLC tends to be the enthusiasts choice when it comes to media playing software. First and foremost, it's free, and it also comes on a vast amount of operating systems. Perhaps the biggest benefit, though, is that it can play pretty much any codec you can think of, and does so with simplicity. One of my favorite 'features', however, is the size of it. It's more than easy enough to just stick it on a USB key and take it wherever you need a good video player, which is very handy. You can pick up VLC here, for the aforementioned price of free.
#8: 7Zip
7Zip is a popular extracting and archiving tool, available on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Not only is it free, but it supports a wide range of archive formats, including .zip, .rar and it's very own .7zip format. There's not much else that needs to be said about this program, so if you're interested, head of to its website and nab it.
#7: Opera
Opera is a web browser that was first released back in 1996, that is currently available for operating systems, as well as mobile platforms as well. It's rather popular, and, although has a smaller market share than most, is certainly no worse than any of the other competitors out there. The software giant Adobe uses it for some of their products, and the Nintendo DS and Wii use it exclusively for their web browsing needs. If you're wanting to give it a try, head over to the official webpage and download it.
#6: Pidgin
Pidgin (or Gaim, as it was previously known) is a very popular instant messaging client, for Windows, Mac OS X and various Linux variations. It's been around since 1999, and it's essentially the client of choice amongst Linux users. You can use it to chat to a huge range of protocols, including MSN, AIM and even MyspaceIM. If you wish to give it a shot, your best bet would be to go here.
#5: Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger is the Microsoft iteration of an IM client, which comes included with Windows Vista. It's extremely popular, not because it's already installed on Windows machines, but because it has a great range of features, customization and even built-in games. You can head over here to install it (if you need to, for whatever reason), and keep in mind that if you're on a Mac then you'll be automatically redirected. It's worth noting that the Mac OS X client is much different to the Windows version, and isn't as fully featured, but still does the job well.
#4: WinRAR
WinRAR is probably the most popular archiving tool available for Windows, I'd say. It's available here, and is available for purchase or as a free download. It's a shareware application, so if you want a fully free alternative, look elsewhere.
#3: Adobe CS4 Suite
Adobe's latest Creative Suite, CS4, is the newest addition to possibly the most popular and famous graphics editing package in the world. CS4 features a bunch of programs, including Dreamweaver and Illustrator, but most importantly it included Photoshop. Photoshop is the professional choice when it comes to image creation and manipulation, and whilst there are very good free alternatives, Photoshop is in a league of its own. If you're willing to shell out the big ones to get this, you can head over here, or you can also try a 30 day full-featured trial.
#2: µTorrent
µTorrent is, apparently, one of the most popular torrent clients around. It's got a great range of features, and works very well. It's currently available for Windows, or as a beta on Mac OS X. Aside from its features, it's also very small in filesize so is great for people with limited hardware. It's handy for downloading that Linux .iso, or what-have-you, so if you want to get a hold of this if you haven't already, please go here to do so.
#1: Firefox
Is anybody really surprised about this? Firefox appears to be the browser of choice with Neowin, and it's no wonder. It's fast, it's free, and it has a wonderful range of add-ons that make it hugely customizable while still being very usable. Development for Firefox is very strong and consistent, with new versions released daily, and Mozilla (the company behind it) have a great community, as well as a current 22.905% market share as of March, 2009. If, for whatever reason, you don't have this wonderful piece of software installed already, please visit the website and get it.
So, there we have it, Neowin. You voted, and these are the top 10 applications of choice. So, which software almost made the cut? Let's have a look.
Honorable mentions:
Google Chrome:
Google's Chrome browser hasn't been around as long as its competitors, but it certainly is popular already. It is based on the Chromium project, and is currently available for Windows, but as a pre-alpha for Ubuntu and Mac OS X. If you've yet to try out Chrome, you can do so here. It's currently sitting on 1.23% market share, as of March, 2009.
CCleaner:
CCleaner is a very popular (and free!) tool for Windows, designed to remove all the unwanted files you may have lying around. It's had over 260 million downloads, and has many features including a registry cleaner and, most importantly, it's damn fast. According to the website for the software, it usually takes less than a second to run.
So concludes the Windows edition of our top 10 list, but it shan't end here. Keep your eyes peeled if you're not a Windows user if you wish to have your say in the coming weeks.
#10: TuneUp Utilities 2009
TuneUp Utilities tends to be the crowd favorite when it comes to performance optimization software. It has a crazy range of features, and it wraps them all up into a slick interface. I use it myself, daily, and have done for years now. You can do a lot of stuff with it... there's defragmenting tools, UI customization features, a hard drive error checker and you can even go and change your boot screen if you are so inclined. If you feel like having a bit of a read, you can check out the Neowin review of this program right here. If reviews aren't your style, you can head over to the official website for the product and download the free trial.
#9: VLC Media Player
VLC tends to be the enthusiasts choice when it comes to media playing software. First and foremost, it's free, and it also comes on a vast amount of operating systems. Perhaps the biggest benefit, though, is that it can play pretty much any codec you can think of, and does so with simplicity. One of my favorite 'features', however, is the size of it. It's more than easy enough to just stick it on a USB key and take it wherever you need a good video player, which is very handy. You can pick up VLC here, for the aforementioned price of free.
#8: 7Zip
7Zip is a popular extracting and archiving tool, available on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Not only is it free, but it supports a wide range of archive formats, including .zip, .rar and it's very own .7zip format. There's not much else that needs to be said about this program, so if you're interested, head of to its website and nab it.
#7: Opera
Opera is a web browser that was first released back in 1996, that is currently available for operating systems, as well as mobile platforms as well. It's rather popular, and, although has a smaller market share than most, is certainly no worse than any of the other competitors out there. The software giant Adobe uses it for some of their products, and the Nintendo DS and Wii use it exclusively for their web browsing needs. If you're wanting to give it a try, head over to the official webpage and download it.
#6: Pidgin
Pidgin (or Gaim, as it was previously known) is a very popular instant messaging client, for Windows, Mac OS X and various Linux variations. It's been around since 1999, and it's essentially the client of choice amongst Linux users. You can use it to chat to a huge range of protocols, including MSN, AIM and even MyspaceIM. If you wish to give it a shot, your best bet would be to go here.
#5: Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger is the Microsoft iteration of an IM client, which comes included with Windows Vista. It's extremely popular, not because it's already installed on Windows machines, but because it has a great range of features, customization and even built-in games. You can head over here to install it (if you need to, for whatever reason), and keep in mind that if you're on a Mac then you'll be automatically redirected. It's worth noting that the Mac OS X client is much different to the Windows version, and isn't as fully featured, but still does the job well.
#4: WinRAR
WinRAR is probably the most popular archiving tool available for Windows, I'd say. It's available here, and is available for purchase or as a free download. It's a shareware application, so if you want a fully free alternative, look elsewhere.
#3: Adobe CS4 Suite
Adobe's latest Creative Suite, CS4, is the newest addition to possibly the most popular and famous graphics editing package in the world. CS4 features a bunch of programs, including Dreamweaver and Illustrator, but most importantly it included Photoshop. Photoshop is the professional choice when it comes to image creation and manipulation, and whilst there are very good free alternatives, Photoshop is in a league of its own. If you're willing to shell out the big ones to get this, you can head over here, or you can also try a 30 day full-featured trial.
#2: µTorrent
µTorrent is, apparently, one of the most popular torrent clients around. It's got a great range of features, and works very well. It's currently available for Windows, or as a beta on Mac OS X. Aside from its features, it's also very small in filesize so is great for people with limited hardware. It's handy for downloading that Linux .iso, or what-have-you, so if you want to get a hold of this if you haven't already, please go here to do so.
#1: Firefox
Is anybody really surprised about this? Firefox appears to be the browser of choice with Neowin, and it's no wonder. It's fast, it's free, and it has a wonderful range of add-ons that make it hugely customizable while still being very usable. Development for Firefox is very strong and consistent, with new versions released daily, and Mozilla (the company behind it) have a great community, as well as a current 22.905% market share as of March, 2009. If, for whatever reason, you don't have this wonderful piece of software installed already, please visit the website and get it.
So, there we have it, Neowin. You voted, and these are the top 10 applications of choice. So, which software almost made the cut? Let's have a look.
Honorable mentions:
Google Chrome:
Google's Chrome browser hasn't been around as long as its competitors, but it certainly is popular already. It is based on the Chromium project, and is currently available for Windows, but as a pre-alpha for Ubuntu and Mac OS X. If you've yet to try out Chrome, you can do so here. It's currently sitting on 1.23% market share, as of March, 2009.
CCleaner:
CCleaner is a very popular (and free!) tool for Windows, designed to remove all the unwanted files you may have lying around. It's had over 260 million downloads, and has many features including a registry cleaner and, most importantly, it's damn fast. According to the website for the software, it usually takes less than a second to run.
So concludes the Windows edition of our top 10 list, but it shan't end here. Keep your eyes peeled if you're not a Windows user if you wish to have your say in the coming weeks.
what Kushman said pretty much sums it up... although lately i been preferring 7-zip just because it's FREE and seems to be a all around solid application although WinRAR does have a better interface that's more tuned.
but at this point WinRAR is to much of a standard to change to something else even if that something else is better.
it's sorta like mp3's ... those are 'the standard' even though .OGG (etc) might be better than MP3.
Me too for the same reasons. How many people shouting for WinRAR actually have the paid edition and aren't just avoiding the nag screen?
I use explorer context menu items for 99% of anything I have to do with archive files.
I haven't found anything in WinRar that would make me want it over 7zip.
If only 7zip would change the *ugly* buttons in its UI... but since I only use context extensions 90% of the time, it doesn't bother me that much.
-1 for winrar because it's not free
I use explorer context menu items for 99% of anything I have to do with archive files.
Not everyone just uses them for extracting things. They are archiving tools, extraction is just one feature...
Also, 7zip is not used by the scene, even when there are some groups that tried (and failed) to put as a standard.
You can also compress through the context menu. I can honestly say I've never seen the 7zip GUI and I've been using it for quite some time.
When you are creating self extracting archives and need to modify settings etc then you use the GUI...
HOW is it any better the 7zip.. it does the same thing! and its free!
right on!
and what do you use smart ass ?
Redundant as in... you don't need two browsers, two file extractors and two IM applications.
But if they're both great applications, why shouldn't they both be on the list?
It's not like it's a list of "best of" in individual categories.
This list is supposed to be the top 10 applications, not the top 10 applications according to category. Nowhere does it say that any one person should have all these applications installed at the same time, does it? Even if the list comprised of only IM clients, it would still be valid because they may happen to be the most popular applications. Use your head.
These were all voted upon, and Firefox happened to be the most popular. Go and get a break elsewhere
Yes, Opera should be there on #1, rather than on #7 only
+1
Which in turn makes it a bad list. The methodology is irrelevant. When 30% of the list is made up of redundant applications it's usefulness is impacted.
And one browser is enough: Firefox, so get rid of Opera, and make room for something else (not another one, Chrome).
As for TuneUp Utilities 2009, you can't be serious...
And one browser is enough: Firefox, so get rid of Opera, and make room for something else (not another one, Chrome).
As for TuneUp Utilities 2009, you can't be serious...
I didn't make the votes *shrug*
Although yeah, probably would be a good idea.
Last edited by Sam Symons Live on 11 Apr 2009 - 03:41
And I wouldn't agree with that.
Majority wins, sorry.
Also, why should only one browser be on the list? This isn't a "best browser, best music player, best compressing utility" list.
I think the final list is something totally biased to (some) people needs. I mean, I dont use any of the applications listed here except for #5, #4 and #1!
I think the final list is something totally biased to (some) people needs. I mean, I dont use any of the applications listed here except for #5, #4 and #1!
Yeah, I'd have to agree, definitely depends on the persons needs.
Does everyone still really use VLC Player? This is like people still using WMP 6.4 (because it takes so few resources but the interface is crap). Anyway, GOM Player is what everyone should use. Been using it for years and for all the FOSS people, it is closed source and it works better
VLC is fine but the interface is meh, instead mpc the interface is way minimalist.
and should of done the top ten by categories so you wouldn't have 2 browsers and compression softwares
IE comes with windows and didn't even make the list LOL
VLC Player is more popular when KMPlayer SHOULD be because it's not flawed and offers a crapload of options if you need them
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php...683#post1910683
CCCP with MPC bundled is the way to go today.
and should of done the top ten by categories so you wouldn't have 2 browsers and compression softwares
IE comes with windows and didn't even make the list LOL
If you don't mind The KMPlayer violating the GPL, sure.
FFmpeg Hall of Shame
Oh, and i use SMPlayer
Kmplayer Updated: December 30, 2008
Um what?
and should of done the top ten by categories so you wouldn't have 2 browsers and compression softwares
IE comes with windows and didn't even make the list LOL
If you don't mind The KMPlayer violating the GPL, sure.
FFmpeg Hall of Shame
Oh, and i use SMPlayer
YA I DON'T MIND AT ALL in fact i use some of the software on that page why.... because it works and does a dam good job so beyond that i could not care less same reason i use http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?act=announce&f=12&id=11 codec packs the fact is km player has played every thing i have ever thrown at it with out a incident and has more options then any other player i have used
While vlc is still a lot better than wmp, it can't hold a candle to KM Player.
It's unfortunate that you have no problem with people leeching off other people and disobeying their requests.
I'm really surprised Windows Live Photo Gallery wasn't mentioned or Picasa, or foobar? Heck I'd throw Steam in there over some of these applications.
Right when FireFox wasn't listed as #2, it had to be #1.
Nice list compiled from us neowiners.
Oh, and Pidgin doesn't try suckering you into installing a bunch of crapware on install. What? What was that? Oh yeah, Pidgin is OPEN SOURCE, kthx.
Damn Digsby-fanboys marching around like they're the kings of IMing.
lots of things are missing from digsby
till this date they havent got any way of indicting whos blocked/unblocked in contact list view..no icon..no changed text..
Oh, and Pidgin doesn't try suckering you into installing a bunch of crapware on install. What? What was that? Oh yeah, Pidgin is OPEN SOURCE, kthx.
Damn Digsby-fanboys marching around like they're the kings of IMing.
*sigh* Open source is not an instant win. RAM exists to be used. It's common for free software to include a toolbar or something during install, and it's always very easy to spot its checkbox and disable it. People who clickthru installs without looking at what they're doing deserve a messy system.
Really, come up with a better criticism of Digsby. I mean, the RAM angle? That's so tired. Half of NeoWin usually jeers people who are terrified of software that actually uses a little of that 2+GB of RAM.
Not to mention, I've had Digsby running all day and it's taking up 12MB of my memory. Oh dear lord save me. My system will cave in on itself. The world is coming to an end. Oh no. Oh no. Whatever shall I do. Wherever shall I go.
Is there a pic of a sad cat somewhere I can use for this?
I wasn't sure whether to allow one of each type or just have a definitive top 10, so I went with the latter
I think you made a reasonable choice.
Maybe one app for each category.
Good list though, I use almost all of them!
It would be touch and go if AVG went on that list but NOD32 is no whear near worthy to go on to that list. Not sure why Opera is on that list.
Edit: Oh and I watch alot of anime and VERRY few groups ever recommend even using VLC. Most recommend against it and getting a pack such as CCCP which includes media player classic home cinema. Its why I believe the CCCP (Though i guess technically its not an application...) should be included and as mentioned, Windows Live Photo Gallery and possibly even steam.
Edit 2: Secunia PSI needs to get up there someday!
I see people mentioning media player classic as the best Video player. Isn't it just the ancient WMP from win95 days, ugly ugly ugly. How is it better than WMP11 with the right codecs?
I know I'm probably missing something which is why I'm asking...
I know I'm probably missing something which is why I'm asking...
media player classic home cinema is a different thing..
http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/
I know I'm probably missing something which is why I'm asking...
media player classic home cinema is a different thing..
http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/
and MPC + FFDShow tryouts > VLC
[quote=acedriver said,]
[quote=SonicSam said,]
and MPC + FFDShow tryouts > VLC[/quote]
ryt..MPC is far better
Agreed. MPC is awesome.
i agree with #6 ... it's much better than using the official clients to MSN/AIM/Yahoo etc and it's only '1 program' instead of loading up a billion others.
i agree with #8 to... as 7-zip is probably the best FREE archiving software and it can extract .rar files to... 7-zip's main flaw is that it's basic interface needs tweaking.
i also agree with #'s 1 and 2 ... because Firefox is THE alternative browser of choice for most people with it's extensions etc etc... and torrent wise utorrent is pretty much king because it's all compacted into a single tiny .exe file
they also needed to add 'ImgBurn' to that list as i would consider that 'must have' software (and it's free) especially if you burn DVD's etc.... it's pretty much the masterpiece of burning software and beats ALL paying ones for what it does which is basic burning of images and basic data discs etc. (for AUDIO CD's i recommend 'Burrrn')
I use it. Pretty neat.
I am sure if you type your sentence this way, it must be true..
...
...
haha!
because it's pretty basic in what it cleans which means it's much safer than the more through ones.
How about a list of Top 10 Windows Free Applications?
antivirus: Rising antivirus
office: open office
pdf reader: foxit pdf reader
pdf printer: dopdf
browser: google chrome
powerdvd alternative (great for bluray): Arcsoft Total Media Theatre
oh and glary's utilities is the best ccleaner and tweaking software ever!
antivirus: Rising antivirus
office: open office
pdf reader: foxit pdf reader
pdf printer: dopdf
browser: google chrome
powerdvd alternative (great for bluray): Arcsoft Total Media Theatre
oh and glary's utilities is the best ccleaner and tweaking software ever!
Foxit's still around? Ever since Adobe Reader got that huge speed boost a version or two ago, I haven't paid alternatives any attention. Heck, nowadays I think the official Adobe option is even faster than I ever remember Foxit being.
No, it shouldn't.
Google Talk
Winamp Lite
True Launch Bar
Trayit
Edit:
I use
9
8
2
1
And CCleaner
Last edited by soonerproud on 12 Apr 2009 - 03:27
I agree with Noroom... Your reply seems to suggest that you think everyone has multiples of similar software on their computers. I only use Firefox (keep updates on IE because it's necessary), Pidgin, and IZarc (archive app).
When it comes to browsers these days, it's very subjective. Everyone has a different system configuration, and everyone has different preferences when it comes to UI. Having both of those browsers on the list seems to be placating those who would cry "foul" if their fave was left out. However, I do understand that web developers will want to have at least two different browsers to test things out.
I tend to think that lists like these are good if you're looking for a software recommendation, and popularity might indicate the better product. But that doesn't mean you'll like it too, or that it will meet your needs.
I use it all days to view pdf files ...
And also Paint.Net, the best replacement for Paint in Windows.
If it's the latter, I would include Microsoft Office in there, as well as Notepad, Freecell and Solitaire...
Really? Seriously?
...okay...if you say so.
*goes back to MPC*
It works like a charm with Windows7.
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