Lesser known Windows software (01-10)

Tired of those lists with alternative software programs, where five of them (usually a list of 10) are Open Office/ Firefox/ AbiWord/ GIMP/ Pidgin? While no doubt they are really good (good enough to be the most popular ones), there are also other little software gems which are really useful and deserve more attention.

With this post, we will start a series with lists of lesser known useful software. While titled Windows Software, more of them are multi-platform. Most of them are either direct replacement for some commercial programs or absolutely unique of their kind. And all of them are useful. (Even some of them are shareware titles, they are still quite useful/ usable in that state. Or they have a free version.)

Let’s start the show. Click on the screenshots to the appropriate software’s homepage. -Quang-

01. EssentialPIM

Current Version: 3.1
Type: Personal Organizer/ Office Utility
License: Free/ Shareware
Replaces: Outlook (organizer part)

A calendar, tasks scheduler, contacts and personal notes management program. Actually, it is everything that Outlook is, without e-mail feature and the bulkyness of Outlook (the EssentialPIM Free version’s download is around 3 MB). Update: newer versions of EssentialPIM does support e-mail too. While the Free version is enough for everybody, the Pro version provides other features like synchronization with Outlook and Pocket PC/Palm’s databases, multi-user access and some other advanced features. There is even a Portable version, where you can carry all the personal data you need with you on a USB thumb drive.

02. i.Scribe / InScribe

Current Version: 2.0 beta
Type: E-mail Client
License: Free/ Shareware
Replaces: Outlook (e-mail part)

Multiplatform, very lightweight, very fast and full-featured e-mail client. The free version supports POP3, IMAP, SMTP protocols (also via SSL connections); HTML mails support; built-in bayesian spam filter and advanced security features. Its functionalities can also be extended by plugins, like the LDAP servers support. The paid version, InScribe, supports multiple accounts management, Outlook MAPI export and advanced filtering system. All of this, for around 1 MB download.

03. Money Manager Ex

Current Version: 0.9.4.2
Type: Personal Finance
License: Open Source
Replaces: Microsoft Money/ Quicken

Small, open source with versions for Windows and Linux. Useful enough for your personal finace management without being distributed on a CD/ DVD like the commercial programs.

04. Spread32 / SpreadCE

Current Version: 2.03
Type: Spreadsheet
License: Free/ Shareware
Replaces: Excel

A spreadsheet software within 1 MB? It imports Excel files and templates, Pocket Excels and CSV files. Over 300 functions and formulas, around 200 macro functions, chart support. There are also versions for mobile devices, like Windows CE/ Pocket PC platforms.

05. Notepad++

Current Version: 5.5.1
Type:
License: Open Source
Replaces: Notepad

Actually, saying Notepad++ is a replacement of Notepad is like saying Photoshop is replacement of Microsoft Paint program. Notepad++ is probably one of the most powerful programmer’s editor with supports tons of programming languages supported for syntax highlighting and code context editing. Multi-tabbed documents, multi-views interface and extendable via plugins – this is a huge monster packaged within a small zip download.

06. Recuva

Current Version: 1.31.437
Type: File Recovery
License: Free
Replaces: Many Commercial Solutions

A small utility to recover accidentally deleted files, even from the Recycle Bin. In the past, for such kind of software, you have to pay not-so-small amount of money (remember Norton Utilities?). Now, it is all, for free. And it works.

07. ClipX

Current Version: 1.0.3.8
Type: Clipboard Management
License: Free
Replaces: MS Office’s Multi Clipboard

This is also a kind of recovery tool. But instead of files, it saves accidentally copied-over items to the system clipboard. It happens all the time to everybody, I guess. While there are also other freeware/ open source programs of this kind, ClipX has the smallest memory usage and easy-to-use interface without any other unnecessary extras. Assign a convenient hotkey combination (I use the Ctrl+Alt+V combination, because it is near to the Ctrl+V), get used to it and you will appreciate this little time-saver thingy.

08. KeePass

Current Version: 2.09
Type: Password Management
License: Open Source
Replaces: Internet Explorer / Mozilla Password Management

Any security expert will tell you to use as strong as possible passwords for your mail, banking or Paypal accounts. And using just only one password for multiple purposes is also a very bad practice: different applications have different security level. While your e-banking account would have strong protection, your (web)mail is not.

But having multiple difficult-to-remember passwords leads to another problem: you cannot remember all of them. Here come the password management programs. KeePass is an open source solution with multiplatform compatibility. It provides some most secured encryption standards, and protects your database either with a master password, a keyfile or even with both schemes. It does not require installation, means it can be carried on a USB memory stick. There is even a Pocket PC version to bring the database with you on a mobile device. And likes many other open source applications, its functionalities are extendable via plugins.

09. SMPlayer

Current Version: 0.6.8
Type: Multimedia Player
License: Open Source
Replaces: Windows Media Player/ Windows Codecs Mess

Downloaded a new video file with universal extension .AVI, but it doesn’t play or only sound/video appears? Welcome to the world of Windows’ codecs.

Currently, there are two major open source solutions for playing media files without the needs of any codecs installed into your Windows system: VLC and MPlayer. While VLC has more complete GUI, MPlayer has better video streaming support in my opinion. SMPlayer comes to solve the GUI problem of MPlayer. Subtitles support, DVD navigation, support for tons of video/audio formats (even the popular Flash FLV video)… what else would you need? A version for Linux is also available.

10. TV-Browser

Current Version: 2.6
Type: TV Programs Guide
License: Open Source
Replaces: Unique

Enjoy watching TV but not sure what channel to watch? TV-Browser is a comprehensive TV programs electronic guide with many features. Currently provides major German TVs support (more than 140 channels), but its database can be extended by plugins. A must-have for die-hard TV maniacs.

So., this is the first series with ten titles of useful software, which we will introduce here at haha.nu. Other series will be coming soon often, and you also are welcome to suggest some titles that we could include into our lists. By the way, interested in astronomy? Read our post about Top Five Virtual Sky Simulators. @ haha.nu.

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