Useful Software

People need programs to help them work. I use a selection of different programs on my web sites, for my e-mail, to browse, play music and transfer files. I have made a small list of programs that I use most often. I have created a small (and fairly bare) reviews section. If you have a piece of software that you want to recommend to me then e-mail me.

• Smart FTP - A very nice looking FTP Program
• Gnutella 0.56 - A file sharing application, also check out Toadnode, running on the Gnutella network
• Swish - A small program that can create Flash SWF files. About $20-30, much cheaper than the full thing. With text and image effects.
• FTP - FTP Explorer - A very simple FTP Program. You can't do a whole lot of complex things with it, but then you can go far wrong as it is so simple.
• Web Design - Dreamweaver - There are mixed opinions about this product, but I think that almost all Macromedia products are good at what they do. Dreamweaver produces good code and nice looking sites. It's like doing it by hand, but faster.
• Music - Winamp - By far one of the most popular media players. I have a large collection of Mp3s (live performances etc.), Winamp handles my playlists very well.
• Browsing - Internet Explorer 5 - I have found it to be reasonably reliable, I also keep copies of most of the Netscape releases to check my sites over. Internet Explorer 5 is the most current browser, and supports a wide range of languages and standards.
• E-Mail - Outlook Express 5 - The standard Email reader that came with Windows 98/IE5
• Media - Real Player G2 - This player can handle the Real Media formats (surprise!) and the new SMIL language...
• Music - Napster - A great program for getting Mp3 music files.
• Icon Forge (ZIP File) - A little Icon Editor for creating Favorite Icon Files