Important programs

[thez]

So...in the process of converting my Dell Windows laptop to a dual-boot Ubuntu/Windows computer, I ran into a nasty complication along the lines of my hard drive having hidden partitions built in, said partitions causing major errors, and my HD getting wiped. I've got Windows and Ubuntu running now, after a reinstall of both, but I lost a lot of my programs (and all of my bookmarks, goddammit). While all of my really, really important stuff stays on my external (TV shows, movies, code), I'm hoping that people would be willing to tell me what kinds of programs they run that they consider "essential". My list so far includes Firefox, Thunderbird, Filezilla, TextPad 5, uTorrent, iTunes, a series of video codecs, and ImgBurn.

If you're curious about suggestions...one thing I can think of off of the top of my head is a good (and free, or torrent-able) DVD ripper.

[Public]

I use DVD Decrypter for ISO/IMG burning, VSO and TMPGEncode for video editing and converting. I use Ashampoo Burning Studio for everything else i burn.

[Anthrax]

WinRAR, Winamp, Adobe Reader, Wireshark, DivX, Folding@home, Google Desktop.

Some stuff off top of my head you didn't list. Nothing important, just stuff that nice to have from time to time.

[Carbja23]

VideoLan VLC Player , Nero , Ventrillo (for most gamers), Anivirius, Spybot S&D, Microsoft Office + Visual Studio, Daemon Tools, Speedfan (overclocking)...

If I think of more I'll let you know, hope that helps.

[thez]

Gotten so far...

--WinRar (How could I forget?)
--DivX / VLC ( I use the KLM supercodec pack for all of my codec needs)
--Open Office (While I have the actual MS Office disks, is there any point in using them? If anyone can point out advantages to having the original software, I'll use it, but until then, less MS == ${Good}.
--Daemon Tools (Again, how could I forget?)

As for Visual Studios, or the other gaming stuff...well, I'm not a gamer anymore, heh. Retired. I still hang around here because I like hacking EQ, I just don't like paying for it, waiting for groups, soloing, grinding AA, patching, compiling, repatching, recompiling, patching for the second patch, recompiling, and...well, everything else.

[Zero0003]

*cough* we gonna have to discuss your sig TheZ *cough* lol

I slipped into retirement of the game also so I know the feeling. Got more into torrent stuff a lot more.

[thez]

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I would do terrible, immoral, unforgivable things to see the elections come down to McCain v. Obama. I don't even think that I'll be voting if neither of them is chosen...

PS, I'm a moderate, not a crazy left-winger or right-winger...I just don't like Hillary. I'm sure that many people would disagree with me on this, but I've always felt like she does everything that she does solely for the purpose of getting more power, even before she moved to New York because she could get elected to the Senate from there. McCain and Obama, on the other hand, actually seem to be genuine (and not f'ing crazy, like a certain candidate that said that people with AIDS were carrying the Black Death of our time and should be isolated).

PPS, plus, I thought the image was hilarious when I saw it. Socks & Barney for teh win.

PPPS...if you meant the quote, not the pic...uh...stolen from CAD comics.

[Bearcub]

Thez...I hope that it's Hillary vs McCain in the end. I really think McCain is the most electable republican candidate, regardless of my views on him (I would have his love child though).

Hillary on the other hand, imo, essentially guarantees a McCain victory! Why would you want McCain/Obama? You'd have to think about who you voted for!!!