Windows Starter Kit: Must-have PC apps

By Seth Rosenblatt on 09 February 2009

Title

5.0 stars

Editors' rating

Pidgin
If you've needed to use Yahoo, MSN, AIM and Google at the same time from the same window, Pidgin is your bird. Like other third-party IM clients, this open-source messenger accesses multiple IM networks, including MySpaceIM, as well as lesser-known protocols such as Jabber and Gadu-Gadu.

(Credit: Download.com)

The IM features are unimpeachable: smileys, file transfers and multi-person chats. The Buddy Pounce feature automatically performs certain actions when a contact signs on or off. Pidgin gets lots of intangibles right: logging and time-stamping, for instance, are well-executed. There are 22 pre-packaged plug-ins, but there are still some bugs. Still, Pidgin remains a highly recommended text-only messaging app.

Still in beta, Digsby gets an honourable mention for integrating so many social-networking services and email notifications with instant messaging, but it's also a memory hog and known for being unstable. Recent efforts have gone to great lengths to correct these problems, but it's still a bit wobbly.

4.0 stars

Editors' rating

ooVoo
ooVoo is an iChat-like video-conferencing and chat tool for Windows, loaded with useful, powerful tools that make it a viable alternative for small work groups using conference calls and screen-sharing applications. A recording feature lets users tape video chats with other participants. Since the video and audio are being recorded to the hard drive, the only time limit is how much free space the computer's hard drive has.

(Credit: Download.com)

An optional companion for ooVoo's video player can be used for screen sharing or file sharing, and a fun facial-overlay tool that applies digital masks either to users' faces or to backgrounds. High-quality video streams are also supported. Two qualms: the audio quality was a bit too compressed and datastream delays made on-the-fly comments nearly impossible. But overall, ooVoo makes for a strong alternative to other VoIP and conferencing software.

Topics: audio, chat, email, image editor, jukebox, office, utilities, web browser, editor, torrent

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Comments (8)

  • Wally commented on 18/11/2009 21:45

    Couple more that I just can't do without,.. SharePod which replaces itunes and Foxit Reader which of course replaces the master of "bloat", Adobe Reader.

  • BooBoo commented on 03/07/2009 10:41

    I reckon, anyone could have typed this up. Even a Newbie. Do some research !

  • Early_Grayce commented on 30/04/2009 16:02

    I have found that over the last decade of PC use I have been able to find enough high quality free software to make paying for software unnecessary.
    No mattter what you are looking for there is a program to fit your needs and if there is a feature from some overpriced software missing from the freeware equivalent it is often worth leaving a feature request on the developers discussion board.
    All discussion leads to better programs in the land of freeware unlike commercial software which is often looking for the next dinky thing to catch your eye and make you spend $s.

  • cwoodsp commented on 27/03/2009 13:47

    Oooops! That last sentence should have read: "sometimes you get what you pay for, but there are some excellent freeware products out there!"

  • cwoodsp commented on 27/03/2009 13:43

    Although I have Vista on my PC and had been running IE (seemingly forever), the laptop I inherited from my ex runs XP and came complete with a heavily-customised Firefox installed (leaning mainly to all things Francophile). During the course of 'de-Frenching' the Firefox I realised just what a great program it is - and immediately dumped IE from my PC and am now happy as a pig in sh*t... As a 'techless' user, finding the wider software world (through CNet and others) has been a revelation and has made me a lot more knowledgable and choosy about my software. Totally agree with arcturus that you get what you pay for!

  • arcturus commented on 12/02/2009 00:16

    This is my must-have list of Windows apps. Not all are freeware; sometimes you get what you pay for.

    Media player: VLC (free)

    Browser: Opera (free)

    Anti-virus: Avast or Kaspersky (not free)

    Image editor/organizer: Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Bridge. Nothing comes close (not free).

    Disk defragmenter: Diskeeper 2009 pro. The best defragmenter out there, and better than all the freeware defraggers (not free).

    Office: MS office 2007 (not free).

    Quick image viewer: Irfanview (free).

    These programs always go on any system I put together for my use.

  • Dumbo commented on 10/02/2009 12:12

    No Dumbo, try the links on top of the page

  • SkyPioneer commented on 09/02/2009 22:51

    What? Is that it? I was expecting something decent, not just the three premier browsers available for download.

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