A lot of these are free tools (unless noted) that I tend to download and install on a PC when I am going to be doing some programming.
Text Searching/Replacing
- WinMerge - WinMerge is very much like that terrible, but terribly useful WinDiff that came from Microsoft.
Text Editor - For when Notepad is not cutting it
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Vim - Yes, I am a Vim person. Getting to know it was a pain in the arse… now sometimes I hit strange keys and they do things I was expecting, even after not using it for a long time. University was right, all that pain did come in handy sometimes when I was on a machien that only had vi! For those on the other side of the fence, there is:
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Emacs - No, I have no idea how to use it, or wish to.
Shell Registry Additions/Windows Modifications
- ConEmu - Making the DOS prompt a bit more bearable and comparable to a *nix one.
Internet Browser
Often it is a good idea to check some different browsers to make sure your web developments are working as expected.
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Chrome - The new overlord.
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Firefox - Getting pretty popular and still very good.
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Firebug - Great Firefox add-on tool for debugging web pages.
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Opera - Now uses the same rendering engine as Chrome.
Compression Programs
For your zipping, arjing, tar, gzipping etc
FTP Client
Graphics
- The Gimp - For when Paint won’t do the job. Lots of features, but I find it hard to use.
Music/Video
I find it hard to concentrate with people talking around me, so blocking it out with some music works wonders for me. Some people find this hard to understand, but each to their own.
I had some problems with the Logitech MX Master 3S Mouse with an M1 MacBook Pro, but I had better luck with a Logitech G502 X Mouse