Favourite apps/programs for Computer, Mobile Device or Other

Forums › Desktop computing › Favourite apps/programs for Computer, Mobile Device or Other

Wakrak

1748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1126

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#275917 16-Sep-2020 18:51

A place to post apps / programs that you're thankful for and think other members may find useful. The idea for this thread came up when I was watching a Youtube video and activated my 'Turn off the lights' chrome extension.

So here's my list to kick things off;

Chrome extensions;
- Turn off the lights (for YT. Fades page to dark so you can focus more on the video. Good if you don't want to go fullscreen).
- Key socket media keys + tampermonkey (allows me to pause, play, skip music/videos playing. Used for YT and Soundcloud).
- Notifier for Gmail (desktop and in-browser notification for all of my gmail accounts).

Computer
- PatchMyPC (one program that downloads/installs updates for many of the apps I use).
- Driver Booster 7 (The one program I pay for. Keeps my drivers updated; bluetooth, monitor, gpu, network etc).
- Youtube Music desktop app
- Dolphin (GameCube / Nintendo Wii emulator)
- MSI Afterburner / HWiNFO64 (internal temperatures and GPU overclock).

Mobile
- Blokada (block ads/popups)
- KWGT (create custom widgets)
- Bleacher Report (keeps track of NBA, Rugby, NRL, NFL news in one location)
- QKSMS (text messaging, can customize)

rb99

3505 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1830

Lifetime subscriber

#2566191 16-Sep-2020 19:27

Anything ?

Emby (obviously)

MakeMKV

Handbrake

Notepad ++

MediaInfo

NextPVR

BulkRenameUtility

Affinity Suite

Avidemux

Backblaze

MyMedia for Alexa

Everything, file finder

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

Virgil

Dangerous Chocolate
212 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 66

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2566195 16-Sep-2020 19:38

I have a couple of Must Installs on new (Windows) builds:

Drive Software's Atomic Alarm Clock for a nice large clock to replace the tiny default

Stardock's Start 10 to remove the default Tiles interface

VLC Media player that plays absolutely anything.

Looking forward to seeing other's suggestions.

Lurking ...

nzkc

1634 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1041

#2566198 16-Sep-2020 19:46

fMost of the things I use now are all web based apps. But there are a few non web apps I still use...

My go to list of things to install on a PC (in order of I think of them...not importance):

VS Code (and a bunch of extensions - but the really cool ones are the remote editing ones)
Windows Terminal
WSL2 (for Windows)
Greenshot (for Windows) or Flameshot (for Linux)
Bitwarden (browser plugin rather than app)

Things I also install but a bit more work focused...

git (yep...even for home stuff)
Docker (and Docker compose)
Terraform
Ansible

Things I have installed elsewhere

Pihole
Plex server
Watchtower (docker container that updates your docker containers - its very handy)
OAuth2-proxy (docker container I use for authentication with google in front of insecure sites)
InfluxDB + Telegraf for some monitory/data collection
Grafana (for displaying the above)

vexxxboy

4336 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2072

#2566199 16-Sep-2020 19:46

the two i always use for my PC is the K-lite codec pack with Windows Media player classic included and Internet Download Manager which lets me download videos from You tube and other sites and speeds up Downloads, i have used them both for as long as i can remember.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

xpd

Geek of Coastguard
14115 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4574

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2566239 16-Sep-2020 21:00

Notepad++ - great for editing code

GOG Galaxy - One stop shop for all your gaming clients (Steam, Uplay, Origin etc)

Discord - get the chat on

CLCL - Clipboard manager

ANydesk - remote away!

Jellyfin - Got fed up with Plex

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

davidcole

6099 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1465

Trusted

#2566249 16-Sep-2020 21:23

Vs code (python, openhab and platformio extensions)
OpenHAB
Mosquitto
Evernote
Plex media center
And a later addition, docker.

Previously known as psycik

Home Assistant: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix, Home Assistant with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave, Shelly Humidity and Temperature sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4 4k, ATV4, HDHomeRun Dual
Server Host Plex Server 3x3TB, 4x4TB using MergerFS, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Proxmox Server with 1xW10, 2xUbuntu 22.04 LTS, Backblaze Backups, usenetprime.com fastmail.com Sharesies Trakt.TV Sharesight

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

Wakrak

1748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1126

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2566266 16-Sep-2020 22:12

xpd:

Notepad++ - great for editing code

GOG Galaxy - One stop shop for all your gaming clients (Steam, Uplay, Origin etc)

Discord - get the chat on

CLCL - Clipboard manager

ANydesk - remote away!

Jellyfin - Got fed up with Plex

Might have to grab GOG Galaxy. All these free games got me using four different clients.

Lias

5655 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3978

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2566391 17-Sep-2020 07:11

General Apps:

Plex
Notepad++
7-Zip
Discord
XShell - You'll never be able to go back to Putty.
Hard Disk Sentinel - Simply the best HDD health tool

Browser Extensions:

Ublock Origin
Privacy Badger
HTTPS Everywhere
Lastpass

I used to swear by a bunch of other things like CloneSpy, FileBot, File Renamer Turbo, VLC etc, but they are largely redundant now I'm embracing Radarr/Jackett/SickChill/etc tied into Plex

Stuff I'm in the market for recommendations on:

A decent replacement for RDC Manager. I've been using mremoteNG and just not warming to it.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

xpd

Geek of Coastguard
14115 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4574

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2566606 17-Sep-2020 09:18

Wakrak:

Might have to grab GOG Galaxy. All these free games got me using four different clients.

You still need the individual clients installed, but Galaxy just integrates them all into one so you can see at a glance what games you have etc. Gives you various filters so you can just view those installed, or just from certain platforms etc.

I only have Galaxy fire up at startup, and if I hit play on a particular game, it fires up the required client and launches the game.

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree