Shane's Recomended Software (and members too!)

[Dragon57]

Interesting info on your experience with VNC. I am sorry to hear it.

I wonder what version you tried? Do you remember? We use VNC at work all the time and lock it down so only admins can start it. The version we use uninstalls things cleanly and we have never seen the results you had. Oh well, you live and learn.

[Darksol]

Looks like some of the software on this list is becoming corrupt and evil. I can name three right now. PSP 9, The Bat 3 beta, and even Opera is heading toward the dark side.

I mean they are charging a lot of money for upgrades for what ? Most of these new programs are not putting much new stuff that is either useful or relevant in their new versions!

If they continue to do this, where am I supposed to go for software ?

[Shane R. Monroe]

Pretty damn sad, ain't it?

If you own it already, enjoy it now. If you don't own it, plan on buying it once and 1) never pay for an upgrade or 2) pirate the upgrade.

You can say its theft to do that .. but I feel its theft for them to take my money like that...

[WorknMan]

Hey Shane,

Do you really have any sort of evidence/real world experience that AVG is working as well as any of the other anti-virus offerings? I've been doing some looking around lately (as well as trying 7-8 different ones thus far), and when I looked on the newsgroups, it's like anything else ... people getting into a pissing contest over which one is better. Of course, with things like email programs and web browsers, this is mostly personal preference, but when it comes to anti-virus software, there's only one way I know to test it, and I really don't wanna go there About the only thing I can do with them is test the user interface and thus far, my favorites are:

1. BitDefender (doesn't start when Windows does though, weird)
2. NOD32 (Very fast, but some people say it's fast for a reason - it misses things)
3. Kaspersky Pers v5 (not the 4.5 pro version)

So far, I've tried Avast (Memory hog - who the hell needs an skinnable antivirus?), AVG Free/Pro, KAV, BitDefender, NOD32, DrWeb, and probably a couple of others I forgot about. I still have a few more to try.

Since I don't appear to have any viruses, none of them find anything when I scan for stuff.

[Shane R. Monroe]

Well ... I've caught at least half a dozen viruses BEFORE they struck, thanks to AVG. I have had 100% success rate with AV and email based viruses. I've cross checked (against some other AV stuff) and no false positives.

I guess that's as good of testimonial as you can get.

See, I like coverage - but false positives TOTALLY remove credibility from a package (see Norton).

The fact that I can't go two or three days without AV updates makes me feel more secure. The fact that it transparently couples with my email - that rocks.

I'm sure they all have strengths and weaknesses. But I PAID for AVG - that should help.

[patman]

An alternative to Cool Edit for sound editing: Audacity

Not as kick-ass as Cool Edit Pro but it's free. Perfect for simple sound editing and adding some effects or EQing. Effects and EQs aren't as flexible as Cool Edit's though.

I still like Cool Edit Pro way better, but Audacity is fine for most of the things you need something better than Windows Sound Recorder for. And, it's free and hasn't been scarfed up by Adobe yet.

You can still find Cool Edit 96 around too if you look - it does a good job too if you don't mind working around the limitations of the trial version.

[Shane R. Monroe]

I would also recommend low cost GOLDWAVE. Good story behind this ... Goldwave was the FIRST PC editor to support Amiga .IFF sound files. In the early days, I spent a lot of time in it. What I do not like about Goldwave is its one of those "could be better" UIs that look like it came from an open source project. Otherwise, the price and features are right.

Its even better to look for alternatives now that Adobe owns Cool Edit (now known as ADOBE AUDITION).

[WorknMan]

I've tried Goldwave, but I find the interface very irksome, especially the way you select portions of sound files - they have two different methods and they're completely ass-backwards from the way you do it in CoolEdit. Hence, I can't get used to it.

Also, in regards to RBTray (a program on this list) .. I really like this program, but it seems to have an issue where, when you minimize Internet Explorer windows to the task tray, they just disappear after a certain period of time. Meaning, I'll have a page up, minimize to the tray so I can look at it a few minutes later, then when I go back to the tray to restore the window, the icon is gone :-(
Also, when using Procomm Plus (terminal emulator), if it's minimized to the tray while a script is running, if the script terminates the program (which is often the case), I have to move the mouse pointer over the icon in the tray before it goes away. Point being, good program, but not perfect.

[Shane R. Monroe]

Yeah, the interface in Goldwave is whack. When it was FREE, you put up with the interface. When you are PAYING ... well, it hits you more.

Yeah, RbTray works pretty good. Esp since its like 80k. You can get ones that are 10MB - that may (or may not) experience the same issues. Fortuantely, I don't use IE, so I don't have to worry about the limitations there. I think 'systray' residence is spotty ANYWAY - even with apps that TRULY support it.

[WorknMan]

I don't use IE, so I don't have to worry about the limitations there.

Well, when I'm at work, I HAVE to use it. (Intranet site is loaded with ActiveX, hence IE only.) I used to use MyIE2, but they dont' allow that anymore either, as they want everyone using the same software In their quest to kill productivity, I wouldn't be surprised if they took away copy/paste next.