The shit blog of Paul Chris Jones

I've decided to make a list of the programs I think are really useful. Some of the items on the list aren't things that I use regularly, but they will be the best program at performing its function.

I couldn't help think about why these programs have been so successful. Most have several of the following qualities:

• Free
• Clear interface with little clutter, obvious how to perform basic functions, i.e. user friendly
• It does the job then shuts up and leaves me the hell alone. No harassment in the form of upgrades / adverts / pointless notifications / pleas for donations.
• Easy to download. Ideally there should be a big, obvious button on the main page itself (and not much else)

Google Earth, for maps, and...?

A technology which is here 25 years before we should expect it to exist. Google Earth allows you to get a (usually high resolution) satellite view of anywhere on Earth. It's a static image however - I suppose the next logical step would be a streaming real-time video. The newest major addition is Streetview, where you 'drag the little man' over a road to get a pedestrian view of the street. It's amazing for the first go, but since I have no practical use for it yet, I rarely use it.

Mozilla Firefox, for internet browsing.

Safer than internet explorer and less buggy than Google Chrome. Also, you can install the Adblock Plus add-on which removes effectively all adverts, including banner ads and pop-ups.

Spotify, for music.

Another program which shouldn't exist. Somehow the creators of Spotify have a tonne of music available to legally listen to, for free. Their library is extensive although occassionally there'll be a band they don't have. I don't understand how the service is free when I have to pay 79p per song on iTunes. There are adverts between songs, but only every 10 minutes or so.

Audacity, for recording and editing sound.

This sound recording program is notable because it's free. It does the job, and saves in a choice of popular sound file formats.

mpTrim, for trimming the length of sound files.

I found mptrim very useful once, but perhaps audacity could do the same job.

BitTorrent, for downloading files.

Although it's synonymous with piracy, bittorrent is actually a very clever program which is legal on its own. As I understand it, files are divided into smaller pieces which are put back together at the end of the download, which enables you to effectively pause the download indefinitely. You download the pieces of other users, and when you're finished, you can choose to be an uploader yourself - a 'seed' as BitTorrent calls it. Downloading from several users instead of just 1 dedicated computer means faster and more reliable downloads, since

• You're downloading from multiple sources instead of just 1.
• BitTorrent can choose the fastest place to download from a pool of users, instead of having only 1 option
• A single computer may strain to cope with lots of people downloading from it; with BitTorrent the strain is shared.
• Files are less rare since users may have the file you want

Microsoft Wordpad, for word processing.

Windows users already have Wordpad, but I thought I'd add it to the list anyway, since it's a clean, simple program which doesn't take a few seconds to load like Microsoft Word does. Notepad on the other hand is too basic for me, but only because it doesn't automatically go to a new line when you type to the end of the screen.

I can't mention Wordpad and not give a mention to Microsoft Excel, for spreadsheets. Because spreadsheets are awesome. They are, really.

And another useful Windows program is the snipping tool, for taking screenshots, although the PrintScreen key and Microsoft Paint could do the same job I suppose.

WinZip, for unzipping compressed files.

An essential program. I like the new '1 click unzip' button since I'm lazy.

Dropbox, for sharing files between computers.

This one is strange because I'd thought of the concept before I'd discovered Dropbox. Essentially your chosen files are stored by dropbox.com, and can be accessed from any computer (with your login and password). It means you no longer need memory sticks, or other transfer methods like emailing files to yourself. Currently you can get upto 2 GB space for free.

Pinnacle Game Profiler, for using game controllers on your computer. Pinnacle lets you 'map' your controller, which means you tell Pinnacle what you want the computer to do when your press controller buttons. E.g. you can make your computer interpret the 'A' button on your controller as the 'space' button on the keyboard.

From what I understand, if you have an Xbox controller for Windows, you can play 'Games for Windows' without the need for a controller mapper like Pinnacle. For other games though you need a controller mapper.

Pinnacle costs around £10, but it's widely agreed that it's the best controller mapper in the business. It lets me use my Xbox controller to do day-to-day things like checking email.

Note: Recently it's been playing up. When I load my laptop up on a new day it uses all the CPU it can get, so the first thing I do is close Pinnacle and reopen it. Also, sometimes Pinnacle thinks I haven't bought it, so I have to reenter my unlocking information (good job I kept that info).

Photoshop, for image manipulation and design. I like doing occassional graphic design and for me Photoshop is perfect for this. Also you can touch up your old photos and make them look new. Photoshop is very confusing for those who have ever used Microsoft Paint.

CamStudio, for recording your computer screen. 

A free bit of software that lets you record what's on your screen. Good for making video tutorials. I'd like to keep the proportions of my recording area when I hold shift and resize it, because then I could ensure the recording area will fit a youtube video exactly.

The windows snipping tool deserves a mention too, because it's great for quickly taking screenshots (though the print screen button can do the same thing too).