Useful Software Megathread

[Crunchy Dragon]

Welcome to the useful software megathread!

 

This thread covers a broad list of different software and utilities, how they’re used, and what to use them for. I have also provided links to said programs for quick and easy downloads for you all.

 

I may split these into different categories in the future. I've clearly done that to an extent, but I may give titles to the different areas later.

Feel free to suggest other edits.

 

EDIT: after reading through all of these, I decided it might be a good idea to not manually edit in other recommendations, but rather let them just be posted in this thread.

Cheers!

 

 

Cinebench -- https://www.maxon.net/en/products/cinebench/

More of a benchmark than stress test, this lets you test your CPU’s multicore speed by using your CPU to render an image. I see Cinebench commonly used to get an idea of thermal performance, as well as multithreaded performance in general. Usually if a system isn’t performing as normal, it can be recommended that a user runs Cinebench to get an idea of how their CPU is performing compared to how it should be performing, since Cinebench scores are easy to find online.

 

Unigine Benchmarks -- https://unigine.com/en/products/benchmarks

 

There are a few Unigine programs used for benchmarking, I personally recommend Unigine Heaven and Superposition. These are used usually to test GPU performance and overclocks. I’ve used Unigine programs combined with Cinebench to identify bottlenecks in systems in the past, as well as my personal GPU overclock.

 

Aida64 and Prime95 -- https://www.aida64.com/ https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/prime95-download.html

These are in the same boat, as they are programs designed for extended stress testing of your CPU. The workloads they put a CPU under are usually not close to real world stress levels. These are usually used to measure temperatures at full load over time since they run longer than Cinebench, as well as to test overclock stability over time.

 

Prime95 may experience problems when using it on Haswell and newer Intel CPUs with automatic voltage settings. It should also be noted that with these stress tests that you either need proper cooling or to set voltages to manual to prevent any overheating issues while testing.

 

Aida64 is also useful for its ability to show temperatures per core while running, as well as thermal throttling.

 

 

Furmark -- https://geeks3d.com/furmark/

Furmark is a extended stress test for your GPU. The workloads your GPU is under are definitely higher than pretty much anything you’ll likely use it for. Furmark is commonly used to test overclock stability over time.

BE WARNED: Furmark has been known to kill Nvidia Kepler(GTX 6xx-7xx)series and lower GPUs. Maxwell(GTX 9xx) and higher GPUs are not known to be killed by Furmark, and I’ve personally never heard of it happening.

 

 

Adobe Premiere Pro and Sony Vegas Pro -- https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-pro/

https://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html

Commonly used video editing suites. I’ve personally used Premiere Pro and quite like it. Tutorials are easy to come by for both since they are basically the most popular editing suites. They do cost a pretty penny, so be prepared for that. Premiere Pro does have a 5 day trial period. I cannot speak for Vegas Pro.

 

Open Broadcaster Software --https://obsproject.com/

Lightweight easy to use recording and streaming software. Highly recommended for lower end systems. I’ve used this a lot in the past. It is free, but you can choose to pay in order to support it. It’s also open source. Commonly known as OBS.

 

XSplit Gamecaster and Broadcaster -- https://www.xsplit.com/

More taxing recording and streaming software. Not recommended for a lower end system. There are both free and paid options available. More commonly referred to as XSplit.

 

 

Discord -- https://discordapp.com/

Discord is a somewhat lightweight chat application offering audio, video, and text communication. Quality is good, and the interface is pleasant as well. One can also create servers that are maintained free of charge. There is also a wide list of bots one can add to a server.

 

Teamspeak -- https://teamspeak.com/en/

Teamspeak is similar to Discord. Teamspeak servers will have to be hosted manually and will cost money, however. I have heard reports of it being less secure and users being able to grab IPs from servers, but I’m not sure if that issue was fixed in the last update or not. Cannot speak for quality(perhaps someone else can).

 

Skype -- https://www.skype.com/en/home/

Mostly phased out by Discord, basically the same thing. There are no servers in Skype, however. Audio and video quality is decent.

 

Mumble -- https://www.mumble.com/

Phased out by Skype, Discord, and Teamspeak. Offers audio and text communication. Servers are manually hosted. Quality is decent.

 

 

CPU-Z and GPU-Z -- https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/cpu-z-download.html

https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/gpu-z-download-techpowerup.html

Very useful system utilities for finding information about your CPU and GPU. GPU-Z is particularly useful for spotting scam cards, although it is possible to fool GPU-Z.

 

Windirstat -- https://windirstat.net/

A quick and easy way to see what takes up space on a drive.

 

ShareX -- https://getsharex.com/

Quick and easy way to capture screenshots and share files. Also offers quick and easy uploading to image hosting sites.

 

VoidTools -- https://www.voidtools.com/

Fast way to search a drive. Only works on NTFS formatted drives, unfortunately.

 

Advanced IP Scanner -- http://www.advanced-ip-scanner.com/

Reliable and free network scanner to analyse LAN. The program shows all network devices, gives you access to shared folders, provides remote control of computers (via RDP and Radmin), and can even remotely switch computers off. Easy to use and runs as a portable edition.

 

CrystalDiskInfo -- https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

Gives you a complete readout of all your computer's SMART information, as well as a current temperature and health status. From its dashboard, you can quickly see a long list of up-to-date system data, so you know when things are going well, and if it seems like something is going wrong.  Displays basic HDD information, monitors S.M.A.R.T. values, and disk temperature.

 

Snappy Driver Installer -- https://sdi-tool.org/

Useful tool for finding and installing drivers automatically. Useful for when you install an operating system and don't want to look for every driver individually.

 

Ultimate Boot CD -- http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Extremely useful

tool for troubleshooting & diagnosing a PC that either won't boot or otherwise is playing silly buggers.

Great for pretty much anything. Has tools like: Allows you to change forgotten passwords (Local accounts only). Incredibly useful for helping family members. A whole bunch of disk diagnosis, recovery, cloning, wiping, and management tools. Memory testing tools (including Memtest86 and Memtest86+).

 

 

 

MSI Afterburner and EVGA Precision XOC -- https://www.msi.com/page/afterburner

https://www.evga.com/precisionxoc/

Both of these are GPU overclocking tools. They are very similar in both features and interface, I personally prefer Afterburner. They will allow you to change clock speeds, fan curves, and(on some cards) voltages.

 

AMD Ryzen Master -- https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/ryzen-master
Software-based overclocking tool for AMD Ryzen processors. Not as reliable as BIOS overclocking, and will need to be re-enabled after a system restart. Useful tool for users new to overclocking that want to avoid the BIOS. Also reports temperatures.

 

HWMonitor -- https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Commonly used tool for finding hardware information and provides monitoring.

 

MemTest86 -- https://www.memtest86.com/

The best memory test out there since trying every slot and DIMM.

 

 

 

Nvidia GeForce Experience -- https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/geforce-experience/

Automatic driver downloads and updates. ShadowPlay clips(on GTX 6xx and higher cards). Recording and streaming capabilities. If you’re into that sort of thing, I personally like it.

 

Display Driver Uninstaller -- https://www.wagnardsoft.com/

Very useful program that will uninstall and completely wipe your GPU drivers and anything related to them. Recommended to run when switching GPU brands or experiencing driver issues.

 

ShutUp10 -- https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/oo_shutup10.html

Quick, easy, and intuitive way to control and view what data Windows 10 is sending.

 

Gimp -- https://www.gimp.org/

Free image editing tool, similar to Adobe Photoshop.

 

Blender -- https://www.blender.org/

Free open-source 3D modelling program. Very extensive program, with even plugin support. Program itself is free, some plugins are paid. Somewhat higher learning curve if you have never used a 3D modeler. May be very taxing on lower end systems.

 

Lightshot -- https://app.prntscr.com/en/

Faster, easier way to take screenshots in Windows. Allows for easier cropping, sharing, and editing.

 

Foxit Reader - https://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf-reader/

My choice of PDF reader for years. It's been more reliable than Adobe Acrobat Reader which tends to crash frequently (like every other Adobe Product) and fail to recovery your files when it does crash. The UI for Foxit Reader is based on the Ribbon of Microsoft Office so you should feel right at home.

 

pdfbinder - https://code.google.com/archive/p/pdfbinder/

Um... it binds PDFs. That's about it. Simple, free, and lightweight application that just works 100% of the time. Not much else to say.

 

Mp3tag - https://www.mp3tag.de/en/

Easy to use application to edit the tags of your audio files. Supports all the formats you'll ever want including mp3, flac, m4a, etc.

[Guest]

Great idea!

 

I just want to put Ninite in here:

 

 

Ninite - https://ninite.com/

 

Allows you to install multiple commonly-used software at once.

 

 

Cheers!

[Phentos]

Would like to suggest a couple programs:

 

Hitfilm Express - A free video editing/compositing suite that is pretty similar in design to Adobe Premiere Pro. Nice for those who use Premiere Pro but can't or won't subscribe for it. Has many optional addons that can be purchased to increase its feature set, or can be upgraded any time to Hitfilm Pro.

 

ShutUp10 - An intuitive, easy to use tool to control how much and what kind of telemetry Windows 10 collects and sends. 

[James Evens]

A HexEditor would be nice. For example Frhed.

[LogicalDrm]

7 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

...although Prime95 is much closer to what a real world stress level would be for a system’s CPU.

 

Prime95 IS NOT what real world stress would be like. And there should be disclaimer about using it on Haswell and newer Intel CPUs with automatic voltage setting. I would also add disclaimer with all stress test that you either need proper cooling or to set voltages to manual to prevent any overheating issues while testing.

 

For real word stress levels, RealBench is best. Running 3D rendering, video rendering, photo editing and such.

 

As general comment, if you have multiple links, have more space between them. If you do this with forum's editor, you need to inser new line to break automatic hyperlink styling. Like:

Quote

https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/cpu-z-download.html

https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/gpu-z-download-techpowerup.html

 

Giving it look like this.

https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/cpu-z-download.html https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/gpu-z-download-techpowerup.html

 

[minibois]

As others said, thanks for sharing!

I would also like to share some more software that I would consider essential (for myself). 

Also, these are all either: Open Source (thus completely free) programs or programs with a paid and free option (where I feel like the free option is very adequate). I use a lot of these on a daily basis.

 

Gimp:

Feature rich image editing program (such as Photoshop). Kind of clunky UI, but works for quite a bit of image editing.

My personal image editor of choice when I just need to create something quickly

(Alternative(s): Adobe Photoshop, Paint.NET, if you need something simpler)

https://www.gimp.org/

 

Krita:

Image editor when i want to draw/sketch something out for whatever reason (could be for actual drawing, but also for when I want to take down some notes for projects)

(Alternative(s): Paint Tool Sai, Corel Draw, etc.

https://krita.org/en/

 

Inkscape:

Vector editing program. Very helpful when you need to make or edit vectors (endlessly scalable images).

https://inkscape.org/en/

(Alternative(s): Adobe Illustrator)

 

Blender:

3D modeling program. Very extensive program, with even plugin support. Program itself is free, some plugins are paid. Somewhat higher learning curve if you have never used a 3D modeler.

https://www.blender.org/

(Alternatives: Maya, 3DSMax)

 

Sketchup:

Simpler 3D modeling software.

https://www.sketchup.com/

 

DaVinci Resolve:

Great video editor. Started as a color grading program, so has many functions in that area.. But also a lot of video editing potential.

(Alternatives: Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas, Hitfilm Express)

 

LMMS:

'Music creation program'. Neat if you just want to create some drum pattern or more.

 

Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code, Notepad++ and brackets.io

All free code editors. All very great, just depends on what you want in your editor.

[Crunchy Dragon]

4 minutes ago, Minibois said:

-snip-

Wow, that's a lot of stuff. Thanks for the recommendations! I'll edit those in among others over the next few days, this thread is getting a lot more attention than I anticipated

[Kaolo]

Very useful, thanks!

I feel like you could add LightShot, which is way better than windows default screenshot tool. It's way faster to edit them also

[AntiTrust]

thank you for making this, exactly what I was looking for. 

[Oliv.r]

PacketTracer when you're bored.

[Crunchy Dragon]

bump

[fpo]

Glasswire for network monitoring

 

qBitTorrent for faster GNU downloads

 

Rufus for easy linux OS boot media installation creation

 

Steam for pc game client

 

crystaldiskinfo shinzuku Edition cuz it’s funnier to have the anime version

 

vlc Media Player for wide variety of media viewing

 

autodesk maya for arguably better 3D animation and modeling at a cost. (You had adobe premier and Sony Vegas. Might as well have premium CG) 

 

articy draft for easier digital movie & video game design document creation with many great tools you didn’t know you needed until you used it to design something. 

 

Audacity for simple audio tweaking, Cubase, reaper, protools & Nuendo for advanced audio tools & music production. 

 

I think Razer has a game optimization tool that has only actually helped with VERY low end obscure hardware to help it run some games the hardware otherwise couldn’t run. 

 

Cmake for programmers to adapt source code to work with their supported compiler of choice. 

 

Vcpkg for easy api download and configuration for programmers

 

I had a few file converters but forgot what they were & stopped using them after windows committed suicide 3 installs ago. 

Thats all I have to add

 

edit

Paint.NET for a Windows only “easy” upgrade to MS Paint. Not as good as gimp but good for basic stuff. 

Edited September 12, 2018 by fpo
Added paint.NET

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Foxit Reader - https://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf-reader/

My choice of PDF reader for years. It's been more reliable than Adobe Acrobat Reader which tends to crash frequently (like every other Adobe Product) and fail to recovery your files when it does crash. The UI for Foxit Reader is based on the Ribbon of Microsoft Office so you should feel right at home.

 

pdfbinder - https://code.google.com/archive/p/pdfbinder/

Um... it binds PDFs. That's about it. Simple, free, and lightweight application that just works 100% of the time. Not much else to say.

 

Mp3tag - https://www.mp3tag.de/en/

Easy to use application to edit the tags of your audio files. Supports all the formats you'll ever want including mp3, flac, m4a, etc.  

 

[konstant213]

Tixati - https://tixati.com/

Tixati is new and powerful P2P
100% Free, Simple and Easy to Use Bittorrent Client
Contains NO Spyware and NO Ads
Windows and Linux Native Versions Available

 

Alreader 2 - http://www.alreader.com/downloads.php?lang=en

AlReader - a universal program for reading on devices running Android, Windows, Windows Mobile and Windows CE. It has a huge number of functions, high flexibility of settings, support for skins and profiles.

Supported reading formats:

FB2, TXT, RTF, HTML, CHM, PDB / PRC (PalmDOC, zTXT mode 1), TCR, EPUB;
DOC, DOCX, ODT, SXW, ABW, ZABW - reading text, displaying images;
Reading from ZIP and GZ archives;
Support images in JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP. Formats EMF and WMF are supported only for Win2000, XP, Vista, 7.
Compatibility:
WM 2003, WM5 / 6, WinCE (from 4.20 and later), Win2000 / XP / Vista / 7/8.1/10.

 

Explzh - https://www.ponsoftware.com/en/

Explzh ) is a file archiver a corresponding to many archive formats developed by pon software.

It has a graphical user interface similar to Explorer and operability, and it can perform compression / decompression operation by context menu displayed by right-clicking the file.  For general compression formats such as  LHA , ZIP and CAB, you can use without installing external dynamic link library (DLL) . For other formats, DLLs corresponding to each compression format are required, but they have a function to automatically download them.

It can also be used as an FTP client with the plug-in function.

 

ICQ - https://icq.com/windows/en

New ICQ for Windows Simple way to communicate and nothing extra. New design, free sound and video calls, group chats and much more!

 

Open Office - http://www.openoffice.org/

Apache OpenOffice is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

 

 

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

bump.

 

also trying to not let this thread die

[_Hustler_One_]

I have unanswered old question about which one is the most user friendly 3D design software? The one with the easiest to use to design 3D models.

Currently I'm using Rhinoceros6 and still learning how to 3D modelling on it.. I'm still green in a 3D design. Should I stay with Rhino6 or move to other software before I go too deep into Rhino6?

[Crunchy Dragon]

3 hours ago, _Hustler_One_ said:

I have unanswered old question about which one is the most user friendly 3D design software? The one with the easiest to use to design 3D models.

Currently I'm using Rhinoceros6 and still learning how to 3D modelling on it.. I'm still green in a 3D design. Should I stay with Rhino6 or move to other software before I go too deep into Rhino6?

I like Blender personally, but I haven't messed around with a lot of 3D Modelling software.

[DVA]

Just found this thread, going to use it to a few of these to try out my new build. I feel like I have not been stressing my system to show me what temps it gets to. 

 

ALSO, this seriously helps with the confusion of which file to download. When you google something like GPU-Z some sites provide their own download link or the site itself has a lot of advertisers (how else would they be able to offer a free program like this)

 

Thanks again, @Crunchy Dragon

[camjocotem]

I don't know if it counts but "The Great Suspender" is a pretty cool google chrome extension

It pauses your inactive tabs to conserve memory!

[Crunchy Dragon]

13 minutes ago, camjocotem said:

I don't know if it counts but "The Great Suspender" is a pretty cool google chrome extension

It pauses your inactive tabs to conserve memory!

Of course Chrome would need that

 

Couldn't resist that, I've had Firefox as my browser for around a decade.

[camjocotem]

1 hour ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Of course Chrome would need that

 

Couldn't resist that, I've had Firefox as my browser for around a decade.

True true XD

 

I do love Firefox despite having been using Google Chrome a lot

[Crunchy Dragon]

Gonna just bump this real quick, don't mind me

[iLostMyXbox21]

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Gonna just bump this real quick, don't mind me

heavy minding intenses

[sev7en]

I would suggest the media player PotPlayer... a must have! https://potplayer.daum.net

 

 

[Andrewmacor]

Hello, Im new here... Been following linus since hit old place in youtube. My question is what is that program he uses that has an editable program listing to download to use in clean installs?