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Something I've realized in my time on the internet, especially over the last few years, is that there's a lot of programs and apps that I recommend to people on a regular basis, and for some of them, I'm the only person in my group who's using them. It didn't occur to me until now that it might be worth gathering all of my "special resources" into one big list. How about we solve that problem right now?

Everything I'm about to list below is something that I use myself on a regular basis, and can generally vouch for as being safe. Still, especially when it comes to certain sites, always exercise caution with what you download, and always come armed with a good content blocker (hello, uBlock Origin). This list is also liable to grow in the future if I find more things worthy of recommendation.

Let's roll!

HAWK'S SPECIAL RESOURCES

Le Internet

  • Discord - If I have to explain this one, what site are you on?
  • Floorp - My current main browser, a recent Firefox fork with some neat Vivaldi-like bells and whistles.
  • Waterfox -  My previous main browser for about a year until very recently, and an older Firefox fork with some additional privacy protections.
  • Steam - DOOOOOOOOONG

Browser Extensions

(These are for Firefox. Equivalent versions may or may not exist on Chrome-based browsers; I'll link to the devs' own sites where possible.)

  • uBlock Origin - The last truly good adblocker/content blocker, still capable of shutting down ads from Youtube and many other sites.
  • Dark Reader - Dark mode converter, works on most sites. Your eyes will thank you for getting rid of so many white backgrounds.
  • Shinigami Eyes - If you've ever seen Death Note, you get the idea: this extension color-codes sites, pages, and social media accounts that are known to be either pro-trans (green) or transphobic (red).
  • OneTab - A nice tab organizing and grouping tool.
  • I Don't Care About Cookies - Do you ever get tired of those popups that ask you to approve or reject browser cookies? Say goodbye to them!
  • Return Youtube Dislike - Needs no further explanation, I think.
  • Save WebP as PNG or JPEG - An antidote to the most hateful image file extension in existence.
  • Reverse Image Search - Adds Google Lens and multiple other search engines as an option in the context menu when you right-click on images.
  • Simple Translate - Allows you to use Google Translate on any page or selected block of text.
  • AHA Music - Sadly not available for Firefox, but I used this heavily when I was still on Brave and Opera. Lets you identify a song by a snippet of whatever is playing in your current tab. You can also upload a clip to the website itself.

Security

  • Bitdefender Free Antivirus - After trying multiple different AVs over the years, this is the one I settled on back in 2022. Quite robust, if you're not a fan of using the one that comes with Windows.
  • ZoneAlarm Free Firewall - My go-to firewall since 2010.
  • Malwarebytes - Another very good AV, but instead of using it for actual real-time protection, I find that its standout feature is its free file scanning system. I've used it to clean all of my comps since 2011.

Media Usage

  • Winamp - My daily music player of choice since 2017. It's pretty old, and looks the part, but still gets my love for being so visually customizable, including in the window layout.
  • Media Monkey - Less of a music player, and more of a full music library manager for professional applications.
  • VLC - The best video player.
  • DJV - Annoying to use as a daily driver for watching videos, but great for scanning video files frame-by-frame.
  • ImageGlass - Image viewer. A more capable replacement for Windows's built-in Photos app.

Media Creation

  • Kdenlive - A fantasic video editor, basically a free alternative to Vegas.
  • OBS - The reigning king of screen recording software.
  • Handbrake - A video encoder/transcoder. Very useful for compressing, cutting, cropping, or converting videos.
  • Audacity - The classic audio editor.
  • Voicemeeter - A real-time audio mixing console.
  • Equalizer APO - Program for real-time modding of your audio for both input and output. (If you've ever wondered how I keep my mic clean of background noise despite having fans on all the time, it's by using this plugin on my mic in Equalizer APO.)
  • Kenku FM - A Discord-based program for streaming music, sound effects, and more through bots. Made for D&D and other tabletop games, but you can use it in a lot of different situations.

If This Part Were Longer, It'd Probably Break Site Rules

  • qBittorrent - Ever used uTorrent or BitTorrent and wished they weren't loaded with ads? This is your answer!
  • Soulseek - A peer-to-peer file sharing program. Most useful for searching for files of obscure songs you can't find anywhere else.
  • JDownloader2 - Bulk downloader. This thing has made my life much easier on multiple occasions.
  • Universal Cyrillic Decoder - In case you download something from a Russian source, and all of the info is written in text you can't read.

Miscellaneous

  • LibreOffice - A great free, open-source alternative to MS Office.
  • Notepad++ - Powerful, coding-oriented alternative to the standard Windows Notepad. I love it mainly for its multi-tabbing and advanced text search functions.
  • f.lux - A program that changes the color tones of your screen to adapt to the time of day, and heavily reduces blue light.
  • TeamViewer - For PC remote control. I use this when I need to control my computer away from home, or when someone else needs remote tech support.
  • Parsec - Like TeamViewer, but more oriented toward gaming, and less likely to scream at you when it thinks you're using a PC for "commercial" purposes.
  • 7-Zip - File manager, unzipper, archiver. Great for working with .zip, .rar, and other compressed files. Pretty much exactly like WinRAR, but utterly free.
  • Iriun - Lets you use your phone as a PC webcam.
  • Defraggler - For all of your defragging needs!
  • TreeSize - Storage space usage analysis program. If you ever want to free up some space on your drive, and need to identify what's hogging it up, this is what you need.
  • Fast Clicker - I don't remember where I found this one, but I've been using it since 2018. It does exactly what it says in the title.
  • Borderless Gaming - Sometimes, you get a pesky game or program that refuses to run in the screen setup you want. This usually solves that problem.
  • AntiMicroX - If you ever want to use a controller for a game, and said game doesn't support controllers at all, AntiMicroX lets you map your controller's inputs to your mouse and keyboard.

Quality-of-Life Improvements

  • Open Shell - Replaces the awful "not-quite-mobile-UI" Windows start menus from 8 onwards with one more similar to the menus from Windows 7 and before.
  • Microsoft PowerToys - A utility suite for Windows power users.
  • Vencord - A plugin suite for Discord, absolutely loaded with useful features (including, as I mentioned in our server earlier, the ability to skip Youtube ads in the Discord embedded player) and QOL tweaks.
  • K-Lite Codec Pack - Makes it much easier to use a wide variety of video file formats in different programs, including Windows's default video players. Also comes with Media Player Classic (MPC-HC) as an optional extra install.
  • Visual C++ Redistributable Runtimes All-in-One - If you've ever been annoyed at having to install some version of VCRedist for a program, this bundle includes every single one in a single download, with one install program.
  • Windows 7 Task Manager - Replaces the default Windows 10/11 Task Manager with the one from Windows 7.
  • Process Explorer - If the Windows 7 revival version just isn't enough, this is an even more powerful alternative to the Task Manager.
  • Like 4
  • God Himself 2
Posted

Small update: instead of updating this thread, going forward, I'm going to updating a Github Gist copy of the list, one you can share around without it being tied to SBC. Click here to see the new page!

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