11 awesome applications you've never heard of

11 awesome applications you've never heard of

Julio Franco on 02 July 2009 - 08:35 · 26 comments & 14086 views

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The average PC user has a dozen or so applications which they completely swear by – and rightfully so. What gets the job done is what matters the most. There is, however, a treasure-trove of pint-sized utilities and fully blown applications just waiting to be discovered. We've scoured the Web to provide a list of 11 useful programs which you've probably never heard of.

All of the programs in this article are either absolutely free of charge or have a free alternative, so don't hesitate to give them a shot and see what you've been missing out on. We hope that by the end of this list, you'll have discovered at least one application that fills a void you didn't even knew existed.

View: 11 awesome applications you've never heard of

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#1 FoxieFoxie on 02 Jul 2009 - 17:08

Which of those are aweosme, seriosly? Norton commander or screen capture?

(1 reply) #2 +Ricardo Gil on 02 Jul 2009 - 17:18

IMO only 2 awesome apps in there: MaxTo (never heard of) and Launchy (use it every day)

#2.1 dlegend on 02 Jul 2009 - 23:52

MaxTo is pretty cool but such a small app like that should be free

(1 reply) #3 Imran Hussain on 02 Jul 2009 - 17:19

Dropbox, Launchy and others which are like on almost every popular tech blog. Who the heck has never heard of them?

#3.1 Doli on 02 Jul 2009 - 17:53

(1 reply) #4 kaborka on 02 Jul 2009 - 18:22

Is there a better free PDF writer than PDFCreator? In addition to a printer driver, it would need to create a PDF from an image on the clipboard and from direct scanner input.

#4.1 Omen1393 on 02 Jul 2009 - 23:15

kaborka said,

Is there a better free PDF writer than PDFCreator? In addition to a printer driver, it would need to create a PDF from an image on the clipboard and from direct scanner input.

While Word 2007 isn't free, with the latest updates you can now save things as a PDF file.

#5 mr.r9 on 02 Jul 2009 - 18:28

@ Kaborka
Yes there is. For a PDF printer use DoPDF and for a viewer there is PDF X-Change. Both are really the best there is out there from my experience.

#6 Kreuger on 02 Jul 2009 - 18:36

I've heard of and used a few of those. In fact, I still use Unlocker on any Windows machine.

#7 leo221 on 02 Jul 2009 - 18:36

no wonder ppl never heard of them...

#8 chadlachlanross on 02 Jul 2009 - 19:30

I can't run a PC without Launchy or a Mac without Quicksilver.

Only other one in this list I've used is Unlocker, but just on my work machines.

(1 reply) #9 Frank Fontaine on 02 Jul 2009 - 20:54

Does anyone know how DVD Flick compares to Nerovision?

#9.1 denne on 02 Jul 2009 - 22:33

It's not as good, but that is from memory of using NeroVision a few years back. DVD Flick has improved over time, and these days is quite reliable. I don't use it often, but when I do, it does the job with no fuss. Perfect price, too.

#10 m.keeley on 02 Jul 2009 - 20:56

Yes I've heard of nearly all of them, no they're not awesome.

(1 reply) #11 Mango on 02 Jul 2009 - 22:00

Wow "Windows Commander" I havent heard that uttered in years.... the memories...

#11.1 Atlonite on 03 Jul 2009 - 11:31

i was just thinkin the same thing i had it way back then and it was great

#12 hardgiant on 03 Jul 2009 - 05:13

I've heard of most of them.

#13 ZombieFly on 03 Jul 2009 - 08:45

wow. if this is all they can come up with......

(2 replies) #14 dangel on 03 Jul 2009 - 08:47

Total commander? Really? Sheesh - they've obviously never tried Directory Opus from gpsoftware - it's easily the most powerful file manager on Windows

[60 day trial too]

#14.1 Innuendo on 03 Jul 2009 - 15:08

Directory Opus is the most powerful file manager out of the box. It's also the most expensive as well. Total Commander, on the other hand, doesn't start to really shine until one starts to customize it and start adding plugins.

One very good example of what I'm talking about is the Xbox filesystem plugin. Once installed in Total Commander it allows one to open/view/access Xbox ISO images. I have never seen any other file manager be able to do that and that's just one example. There are hundreds of plugins available that allow one to expand functionality far beyond any other file manager I have ever seen.

The only file manager that might surpass it is FAR File Manager, but if you thought Total Commander's interface looked archaic wait till you get a look at FAR's ancient DOS-like interface!

Back to my point, Total Commander and Directory Opus are the best file managers available and it has been my experience if a person learned computers in a DOS environment that person tends to prefer Total Commander nad if a person learned in a Windows Explorer-like environment that person tends to prefer Directory Opus.

I just wish Directory Opus was more affordable & the author didn't stick it to his users when it comes upgrade time. At least with Total Commander it's a one-time price with lifetime upgrades.

#14.2 roadwarrior on 04 Jul 2009 - 13:27

I remember using Directory Opus back in my Amiga days (probably before most people here were even born!), I forgot that it was even still around.

(1 reply) #15 bryonhowley on 03 Jul 2009 - 14:00

Out of all of them unlocker is the only one worth a ****.

#15.1 RanCorX2 on 04 Jul 2009 - 12:28

bryonhowley said,

Out of all of them unlocker is the only one worth a ****.

shame it doesn't work on vista x64.

#16 RadialFX on 05 Jul 2009 - 04:42

What about PowerDesk Pro? No one has mentioned that and it's a really great application. I couldn't live without it. I've used it since version 4 and It's always been great. Rad

#17 speedy_kevin on 05 Jul 2009 - 13:57

Besides MaxTo and ManicTime i've used them all in the past. Only Unlocker is one to keep

#18 Shadow Dragon on 05 Jul 2009 - 19:29

I wish they would have included "Everything" in there. It's a search app that I think a whole lot of people would really benefit from.

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