MC's own picks for 2010

[MidnightCowboy]

You won't be surprised that most of my day is spent on-line doing one thing or another, usually for the site but sometimes for myself, especially if Manchester United are playing and I can find a good stream

During the course of the year I've tried so many different programs it's easy to lose track. Some things have been memorable though, so I thought I'd share them here. I hasten to add that these are the results of my own experiences, in most cases as a purely average user, and are just personal preferences.

The folly of paying for security software is the one thing which sticks in my mind most. I've been given keys to try stuff by vendors from all over the planet but there's nothing amongst any of them that I felt a need to pay for. It's worth mentioning that the only product not to cause me a single problem was TrustPort.

Even amongst the freeware options not everything has been plain sailing. Update issues, stability problems and a variety of usability concerns have not helped the cause for several well know products including Comodo, Avira and AVG.

Free or paid I can also appreciate the frustration felt by many users as they attempt to wade through the hype and pick a suitable solution. IMO some of this stuff is more suitable for the bin than a computer and should never have been released in the state it was presented in.

So after all this what did I end up with?

Well, having had issues with all of the main real-time programs I finally stuck with what I know works best - Avira 9. As far as I can tell it will still be supported for about another 6 months which is like a lifetime in this industry. Hopefully by then the latest Avira, MSE or one of the others will work as well with as few concerns.

Secondary scanners were easier and I'm still with Malwarebytes and HitmanPro.

The firewall choice was an easy one too. Privatefirewall is an outstanding piece of software, not just for the quality of the program, but for the level of support provided by the developers. They also tend not to release versions until they're finished which if you're a Comodo user is worth remembering

I still keep WinPatrol, although I doubt if I really need it together with Privatefirewall's HIPS.

Secunia PSI is a must have in my opinion although a few issues with the new release have convinced me to stick with the previous version until I'm certain they've been fixed.

My DNS filters round up this section with Clear Cloud taking top spot. If it blocks a site I really need to enter then I disable it from the tray icon and revert to Comodo instead which has an ignore option.

For both my browsing and email needs I found Opera 11 to be a breath of fresh air in an increasingly bloated market. I keep SRWare Iron as standby. I may possibly revert back to Thunderbird for my emails because I do like the layout. Anyone looking for a less pretty but nevertheless highly functional and light weight client might like to look at Claws Mail too.

Media players is another area I've struggled with. In the earlier part of the year we spent ages deleting fan boy rants about KM Player from the main site comments and my own feelings about this were confirmed when the Ask tool-bar started arriving with it. At that time I was favoring VLC but since the later versions I've experienced problems with it on both Windows and Linux. Recently though I installed the KM clone PotPlayer, from the same developer, and was impressed enough to keep it. This I now use for all my movies and videos. For audio files and streaming radio I use Spider Player.

And the rest....

System monitoring - Rainmeter with customized skins (SpeedFan provides the temperature plug-ins).
Launcher - SE Tray-Menu
Bit Torrent - Tixati
Word (general) - PolyEdit Lite
Office - Softmaker (free 2008 charity version)
System cleaner - CCleaner
Uninstallers - Revo & AppRemover (security software)
Image capture/viewer FastStone
PDF viewer - PDF-XChange
Defrag - don't see the point of risking a third party tool when Windows 7's own is plenty good enough.
Registry and tweaking tools - don't even ask! Seen it all before - machines so "clean" and "fast" they need reformatting before you can read the screen

I no longer have the need for a burner except for Linux ISO's so these I do with Brasero on Linux.

Linux is now my preferred system and over the past year I've tried quite a few.

This is what I found.

Not the lightest but in my eyes the most beautiful - Mandriva Spring 2010 (KDE). Be interesting to see what happens after all the company turmoil and what the Mageia fork turns out in a month or so.
Most stable and easy to use KDE - PCLinuxOS.
Most complete and easiest system to work with - Linux Mint 10 (Gnome) "Julia".
Easiest and most suitable transitional distro for those leaving Windows but still wanting to keep it - Zorin 4.
The most user friendly and "insanely fast" (their words) lightweight distro - Peppermint One.
The most different and promising lightweight (billed as "minimalist") - Bodhi Linux which uses the Enlightenment (E17) desktop.

These last three are several times faster than Windows so burn a live CD and try one. It won't affect your Windows installation and you might be surprised by what you see!

[Ritho]

I no longer have the need for a burner except for Linux ISO's so these I do with Brasero on Linux.

Linux is now my preferred system and over the past year I've tried quite a few.

In fact, from what I hear, the local computer shop in MC's village has stayed in business solely based on the profits they have made selling the optical disks for his test Live CD's. I also understand that the locals have been going through his trash and collecting the ones that did not meet up with his approval, and have been raking in cash selling them to unsuspecting tourists.

[garth]

Thanks for the list MC

The one question i have to ask though is the desert island one. You may take one Linux distro to the desert island with you, so which is it to be?

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by Ritho

I also understand that the locals have been going through his trash and collecting the ones that did not meet up with his approval, and have been raking in cash selling them to unsuspecting tourists.

Actually the kids have been selling them to tourists on the beach to use as frisbies.
Funny how the Aussie tourists always manage to make theirs come back?

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by garth

Thanks for the list MC

The one question i have to ask though is the desert island one. You may take one Linux distro to the desert island with you, so which is it to be?

This would have to be PCLinuxOS because it's the most stable of those I've tried and therefore most likely to keep working every time I switch it on

[mrpink]

Originally Posted by MidnightCowboy

You won't be surprised that most of my day is spent on-line doing one thing or another, usually for the site but sometimes for myself, especially if Manchester United are playing and I can find a good stream

You mean there's no tv channel to pay for the rights of Premiership and Champions League?

[deya]

Interesting reading your 2010 list, MC. Like most people on here I've tried a lot of different stuff this year, some of it rubbish, but I never cease to be impressed with the amount of good quality freeware that's available.

I started using MSE in 2009 and never looked back, I don't know how many desktops and laptops I've installed it on throughout this year only that it's a heck of a lot, and I've not had to clean one of them after it was installed. Even on the machines belonging to the serial downloaders and link clickers [teenagers] MSE has kept them clean, and the best thing is they all learned how to use it in no time, not one complaint.

I did use ForteClient on a spare for a couple of months and was impressed with that, never got infected, it worked like a charm for me. I've stuck with Norton for my DNS.

Tried lots of audio stuff but as usual ended up sticking with the lightweight ones, I don't like the big all in one audio programs. Tapin Radio, CrystalWolf, started using Miro for my podcasts. Spider Player, AIMP2, RadioSure - all installed and used, but my favourite even after all that is still foobar.

PhotoScape is one program I started using in 2010 for image editing, I couldn't be without it now, it's very good for freeware.

Browsers - SeaMonkey and Lunascape shoulder the main daily workload between them, both solid for me. But the comeback of the year has been Opera 11, a real revelation because I'd almost given up with Opera 10. I've installed it on a couple of new machines we have around here now and asked the people who use them to try it alongside the tried and tested favourites, they love it and are now using Opera 11 as default, which has surprised me. For an IE alternative I'm still using Maxthon 2 because it's one of the most configurable browsers around. Maxthon 3 has been in development all year but it still baffles me as to what they're trying to do with it, it's lightning fast but even so, I wouldn't recommend it.

CCleaner, Glary Utilities, HitmanPro, MBAM and WinPatrol free have all continued to serve me well throughout 2010 and I don't see that changing in the near future. Same goes for SoftMaker 2008 for the office suite [the charity one]

As for the OS, still Windows all the way for me, it earns the money and I have no reason to change that but maybe this coming year I'll give Linux a try, if I can free up another machine. Just out of curiosity more than anything.

And Match of the Day on a Saturday night still does me for the footy - that and BBC Radio Five Live on my old Roberts set for the live stuff. Streaming's ok, but some things should never change

Hope you don't mind me adding to your list.

[bo.elam]

Thanks for the list. I still use an old version of KMPlayer and will take a
look at Pot Player, a player that I have never heard of until now. Thanks.
On Avira9, its still working great. I had it for a couple of days last week
and it felt even better than before. Knowing Avira as I do, most likely
it will be supported a lot longer than 6 months.

Thanks MC for sharing your feelings about the listed software.
Bo

[Anupam]

Good to hear experiences of people .

MC, whats the site for PotPlayer? I have been reading its name a lot, but I never got around to finding its site. VLC remains my primary player. I have used KMPlayer in the past, and liked it, but it seems a bit heavy for my use. VLC is just fine for me, and never caused trouble.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by deya

Hope you don't mind me adding to your list.

Absolutely not. It's always great to have your contributions here.

Everyone's needs and personal preferences are different and often in threads like this I read something that prompts me in either a new direction, or to reflect on an old one