Cool/Helpful Software
 

Hi,

Does anybody know of any interesting/helpful software that improves upon the standard tools/features given by their OS? This doesn't have to be strictly Windows software; post your Windows/Mac/Linux suggestions here and share them with everybody else.

I'll start this off!

Divvy
An application for managing the windows on your screen. It's available for Mac/Windows users and can be downloaded for both Mac and Windows. There's both a free demo version and a paid version available.

http://mizage.com/windivvy/screenshots/ui.png

Start8
Brings the start menu back to Windows 8/8.1 It's probably the best start menu replacement I've found. You can download it here. Unfortunately it's paid-for software. If you'd like a free version, take a look at ClassicShell.

http://i.imgur.com/UeC6qCU.png

Greenshot
A great replacement for the print screen feature. Greenshot gives you a selection rectangle that allows you to select a certain area on your screen and do a range of things with it, including uploading your image to Imgur, saving it to your computer, opening it in an image editor and more.

You can download it here.

Cool, going to start using that greenshot simply because it uploads to imgur for me :) Also I guess it's a good alternative since printscreen seems to hang up my computer for a few seconds whenever I use it, annoyingly.

Subbed

I honestly don't know what I used to do without it. It's great for sharing images with other people as it's literally a couple of clicks and the URL is copied right to your clipboard.

<3 #charlimit

Inkscape

It runs on all operating systems, "Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format."

Has always been one of my favorite graphics programs, basically Paint on steroids. May not be cool/helpful for everyone but I know this community is filled with artists who might enjoy this.

https://inkscape.global.ssl.fastly.n...48-ferrari.png

More examples of projects done on Inkscape

gyazo

screenshot program that auto uploads all screenshots to gyazo.com, you can also upload image files simply by opening the image with the App.

SpaceSniffer

http://static.digit.in/fckeditor/upl...E)_-_Ready.png

Kind of an unusual tool, but it's super useful if you have large hard drives and need to figure out if certain things are taking up large amounts of space on your computer. You basically select one of your drives, and it generates blocks based on file sizes in folders at a fairly fast pace, so you can easily see which folders are larger than others. Also has some built-in functions like opening those folder locations when you click on each block, and so on.

I actually recommend http://puush.me. I used Gyazo before, but it always placed ads on my screenshots. With puush, you have more flexibility, and no ads. It's a win-win!

Can someone please tell me how i can give Emera 1000+ rep points because of Greenshot!?

Notepad++

This is one of my favorite text editors, it's pretty much Notepad but way way better and it gets actual updates and it also supports some web developing languages which is a bonus for new web developers.

I know not many people use Notepad on a daily basis but I do and this really makes it much more productive.

regex find and replace ftw :)

Really appreciate Greenshot since puush has been malfunctioning lately and apparently had a security breach. Will try to contribute to this thread tomorrow!

Never have had ads on gyazo :0

ShareX is, in my opinion, the best screenshot/basic recording utility available for windows.

Sublime Text 3 is my favorite text editor. It is extremely customizable and runs very well.

I use Oracle VM VirtualXbox. It is a program developed by Oracle which let's you run Virtual Machines.
It means that you can run other Operative Systems and have more computers inside your computer without having to dual-boot or make partitions for the other OS's.
It is not too practical if you plan to use another OS as main.
So for my programming classes they asked me to download Linux Fedora and many other OS's, all my classmates had lots of problems with their laptops, but I simply downloaded all OS's and ran them on VirtualBox, and worked like a charm.

This is great. I've always used TreeSize to discover where I'm wasting disk space but this takes the cake with the way it gives you a grid overview.

http://www.pendriveapps.com/wp-conte...eSize-Free.png

Thanks!

I've never used to Regex find/replace in Notepad++. That used to be my favourite text/code editor until the guys at work showed me Sublime.

Not sure if you guys have heard of Visual Studio Code but it's a code/text editor Microsoft have been working on.

http://i.imgur.com/xK6D7xh.png

WhatPulse
A great software that can record your computer habits such as most keys used, your download habits and what program uses the most download on your computer. Its a great program if you're a gamer and want to know how many times you've clicked or pressed a key

download here
http://i.imgur.com/dnpQUVG.png http://i.imgur.com/VvmimLv.png

HexChat
A great IRC client that i use all the time!

download here

http://i.imgur.com/NvJQ9cH.png

CCCP

A great and easy to use playback pack for windows which supports the majority of video formats (Its great for watching Anime on)

download here

http://i.imgur.com/7ZCtS1P.jpg

BlueStacks
Basically an Android emulator for the PC which is mainly used for Playstore games

download here

http://i.imgur.com/CLGQxKn.png

Bitdefender
A great anti-virus that is probably better than the one you have now. It is not free but you can try it out for one month!

download here
http://i.imgur.com/cBLMf8q.png

BitTorrent Sync - FREE /w Pro Option
Device to device file transferring, super fast way to get your pictures, folders, videos, and documents around your own devices without the cloud.
https://blog.vrypan.net/2013/04/24/b...-sync/sync.png

Avira - FREE /w Pro Option
A new free Anti-Virus out there that competes with the highest standard Anti-Virus brand. I use it personally and I have to say it is really great, without the need to slow down my computer.
http://i.gyazo.com/b5eb462afa4d49b31b85877f46d64828.png

Wooxy - FREE /w Pro Option
An easy way to install League of Legends skins, without the need of doing the long way using texmod. Easy skin download and automatic install, not only does it do character skins, but also map skins. If you feel creative you can also create your very own skin.
http://i.gyazo.com/911d0588442355b76c972c974d52d3fb.jpg

Rainmeter is super cool for those who want to customize their desktop. Not sure if Greenshot has a thing where the print screen key immediately saves the capture to your computer, in case you don't have time to do the manual thing.

Dropbox has that and is immensely helpful in syncing your stuff across your phone, computers and whatnot.

Also, F.lux is a really neat app that can help you get to sleep easier after a session of using your computer. The blue light produced by computer screens is known to inhibit sleeping ability, so this app will actually fade away the blue light displayed by your monitor by filtering your screen a tinted red, which is much easier on the eyes at night which immensely reduces eye strain and can help you get to sleep easier. Best part is, it turns the red filter off during the daytime when it's not needed, and gradually turns it on as the sun sets in your specified location. Super neat.

https://justgetflux.com

There are also equivalent apps for your phone's, F.lux for iOS and Twilight for Android. I find this to be wonderful for night browsing when you're laying in bed staring at your screen. Really helps with eye strain, and it's helped me sleep easier too.

Mac OS X:

Snip

Snip is kinda like Greenshot, but for mac. I really dig it.

ClassicShell is pretty damn handy.

It's great isn't it? It's even more customisable than the Windows 7 one.

For some reason the start button didn't work on my computer before and it really annoyed me having to press the stupid windows key all the time.

Now I don't have that problem.

Thanks for posting this.

I wasn't going to post this because the thread seemed to be geared towards OS-improving software, but no one else seems to be abiding.

http://stephaneginier.com/sculptgl/

An in-browser 3d sculpting tool, similar to Zbrush but also free. Fun to play around with, at the very least, if you've ever had an interest in trying 3d sculpting but not committed enough to download software for it. It also supports tablets(like Wacom).


Last time I tried fences it was pretty cool: http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
Lets you neatly arrange icons on your desktop into categories, useful if you're like me and want things in certain areas. Forget why I stopped using it though.

http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/20...ng_540x304.png

Ableton Live 9.
Check it out

A description would be nice.

Description: music and stuff

Hello Jatz,
I just download sublimetext but I can't find where you can add color to the text like on Xcode so you don't get lost in tons of code line...
Thanks!

Just installed ShareX. 10x better than Greenshot. Thanks for this!

I can see that ShareX does come with more options, than Gyazo (a screenshot & gif capture) but it feels like I would be spending more time looking at what my options are than a quick click drag snap. Is it possible to use hotkeys when selecting the program?

ShareX allows you to assign hotkeys

http://i.imgur.com/qBFjxEk.png

Wow, looks like I will be switching to ShareX lol

It's great :) let us know how you get on.

What website does ShareX upload to?

According to the website screenshots, it has a variety of default uploads, such as dropbox, ftp, google drive and so on. But also allows custom uploads, such as to imgur, puu.sh, tinyurl and such.

https://imgur.com/a/7TDhO/embed?back...&link=4e76c9#5

ShareX has loads of options to do stuff and I am not going to lie, it frustrates me that I will forget some of my hotkeys that take screenshots lol

I used to hate Inkscape because I had no idea of how it worked. Once I understood what it was for and how to do things, I have to say I love it.

This is the first ever thread on Graalians that's actually productive.GG doods

I'll try to contribute but you all must know about these programs already...

Sony Vegas

The best video edit software out there.Very easy to use interface with voice syncing support.

Blender

A 3D sculpting program that's a pain in the bottoms to learn but once you get the hang of it,you can do miracles. (EXTRA INFORMATION:Techland used blender to make the building in Dying light)


i'm sorry but that's all i got lol.I just play games all day.

Rainmeter lets you add widgets to an extent that you have a tricked out desktop. You can add simple widgets or make it seem like you made your own OS.
Attachment 17986
This has a few simple widgets on it. The clock, system data, toolbar at the top.

I've never been one for desktop gadgets, especially not I'm on Windows 8.1, but I used Rainmeter for a while and there are some great widgets out there for it.

this is probably obvie, but Dropbox is essential for my music stuff since i use like 4 laptops for music

I use rainmeter, but I use it very minimally.

http://i.imgur.com/McS0gLk.jpg

Time, date, music & volume control.

Going to post a chrome plugin, idc if its against this thread rules

uBlock Origin
A great lightweight alternative to Adblock/Adblock plus. It also might be a better alternative as an adblocker for you, it is for me.

That's pretty cool. I'm experimenting with some Spotify widgets right now :)

Software is software. Cheers :) I might give this a try actually.

I wonder if they have Pandora widgets :O

For the gamers I think there is a Steam widget that gives easy access to your library. Not that desktop shortcuts can't do it, it might just look cooler to you.

Play games as if you're wearing Gunnars without actually buying Gunnars: https://justgetflux.com/

Rename Master

http://techhive.de/blog/wp-content/u...umbenennen.jpg

Allows you to do bulk renaming operations with a large amount of files without needing to re-save them or do much of the work manually. This can be especially handy if your server goes through a name change or something similar.

This reminds me of Directory Opus. It's an advanced file browser that can replace the default Windows Explorer. It's got tonnes of features, some of which are listed on the link I've provided. It's not free however, but I'm sure there's a torrent somewhere that'll provide it.

http://nerdbusiness.com/articles/111...ult-layout.png

Can anybody recommend a decent screen capture tool for OS X? I've enjoyed ShareX on Windows and I'm looking for something along those lines for my Mac, with the most important features being rectangle selection and uploading straight to an image host.