Comments on The Thinking Blog ~ Knowledge Grows When Shared: Microsoft Substitutes

4 years on and I still use most of these programs ...

2010-02-12T23:03:46.261+02:00

4 years on and I still use most of these programs on a daily basis. When I get my head round it, I'll publish an update with a new post. Thank you for dropping comments. Keep thinking! =]

Can anyone recommend the robust Script Deployment ...

2009-12-23T22:34:18.408+02:00

Can anyone recommend the robust Script Deployment utility for a small IT service company like mine? Does anyone use Kaseya.com or GFI.com? How do they compare to these guys I found recently: N-able N-central systems management
? What is your best take in cost vs performance among those three? I need a good advice please... Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the list of subs. Very useful for anyon...

2009-11-24T06:11:57.301+02:00

Thanks for the list of subs. Very useful for anyone trying to make the transition.

Let me be the umpteenth to suggest several further...

2009-02-06T23:18:00.000+02:00

Let me be the umpteenth to suggest several further replacements:

Outlook Express -> Thunderbird http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
- more attractive, more secure, brother to Firefox, tons of plugins available, open source (free and Free) . . .

Notepad -> Notepad++ http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
- has tabs, context highlighting for just about everything, can open extremely large files without dying (Notepad chokes easily) and is open source (free and Free).

Calculator -> Microsoft Powertoy Calculator http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx
- More powerful, has graphing functions, etc -- it's unofficial MS, but it really should be shipped with Windows! free, of course.

Lots of things -> TweakUI (same page)
- this Microsoft Powertoy lets you control tons of windows features to enhance performance & security as well as customizing appearance and more. Also free.

Messenger -> Pidgin http://www.pidgin.im/
- supports just about every chat service known to man. MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, jabber, gadugadu, zephyr, and it's open source (free and Free) . . .

as an replacement for notepad, i like notetab. its...

2009-01-19T05:05:00.000+02:00

as an replacement for notepad, i like notetab. its a cleaner program with more options.

here is my recommendations after so many years of ...

2008-08-04T05:55:00.000+03:00

here is my recommendations after so many years of trying out many
Explorer --> Powerdesk
claculator --> Ccalc (or conssole calculator)
message filing in outlook --> Speedfile
undelete--> undeleteplus
though Powerdesk is not free, it is the best with lot of power and options

if you use outlook and a lot of folders to file your meesages, speedfile will make things really cool, but not free. pl let me know if anyone knows a free app to replace speedfile

replacement for IIS is Xampp
Outlook replacemen...

2008-06-04T08:53:00.000+03:00

replacement for IIS is Xampp
Outlook replacement is Thunderbird with addons in thunderbird it can also replace the windows built in Address book"

May be you should just use linux instead of instal...

2008-05-10T18:54:00.000+03:00

May be you should just use linux instead of installing a M$ one and finding all subtitutes for its built-in programs.lols.

What about ProcessExplorer instead of TaskManager?...

2008-04-22T16:59:00.000+03:00

What about ProcessExplorer instead of TaskManager? Its made by SysInternals, Microsoft even hosts the download. It has a lot more information, far more customizable, can be told to replace TaskManager if you so wish (its just a simple option within it) and I am particularly fond of being able to view the dll threads within processes to see what is piggybacking on what.

I like your collection of software very much I am ...

2008-03-09T14:38:00.000+02:00

I like your collection of software very much I am using most of them nowdays. I just want to know that do you know about any software which can dial my broadband connection on a schedule time? It will help me a lot if you mail me your answer.
souravhotpradhan@gmail.com

Give crimson editor a try, you will be amazed by t...

2008-03-03T11:08:00.000+02:00

Give crimson editor a try, you will be amazed by the features it packs up in half MB. time to thrash notepad too:-)

How about Linux for all of Windows? Ubuntu's is a ...

2008-02-16T02:23:00.000+02:00

How about Linux for all of Windows? Ubuntu's is a very good flavor for newcomers.

And NotePad is terrible. Emacs is far superior to it, and Vim is far superior to Emacs. =P

A great list of Microsoft alternatives. I use +50%...

2008-02-10T06:36:00.000+02:00

A great list of Microsoft alternatives. I use +50% of them :)

Mozilla, VLC, Spybot, CCleaner and MaxView rock!

For Disk Defragmenter, you can try using Defraggler (http://www.defraggler.com)

Notepad = The only reliable Microsoft software!...

2008-02-05T17:41:00.000+02:00
Notepad = The only reliable Microsoft software!

Notepad aint that reliable...
1. Open notepad
2. Type this app can break
3. Save it
4. close notepad
5. reopen the file...

How do you put some of those programs on the compu...

2008-02-05T01:48:00.000+02:00
How do you put some of those programs on the computer??? I can understand Firefox- but I don't know how you'd change Explorer. o-0

Instead of Notepad I use Notepad++.

2008-01-28T00:12:00.000+02:00
Instead of Notepad I use Notepad++.

I love the capture of your desktop. Could you giv...

2008-01-17T05:43:00.000+02:00
I love the capture of your desktop. Could you give me some hints on how I could do the same???

Ok, let's see, well as of 2.0 I would agree with F...

2007-12-31T20:44:00.000+02:00
Ok, let's see, well as of 2.0 I would agree with Firefox, but it's only JUST managing it and IE8 won't be that far behind.

ExplorerXP - fine - but what about my network neighbourhood. It appears to be missing. So one program for local files, another for network - erm, no.

VLC - right on the button - though it looks rubbish out of the box and ALL of the skins out there have some fault or another. It IS faster though.

Media Coder - erm, it doesn't encode live incoming video - and that's one of the main features of Media Encoder. More homework needed!

Imaeg Viewer - who uses THAT? Irfanview would be my choice.

Wordpad - who uses THAT? As for replacing Office with OpenOffice - you must be kidding. Office 2007 is LIGHT years ahead of open office in every respect.

Paint - I don't think anyone uses that, do they? Gimpshop is ok, but paint.net is a great general purpose replacement for paint.

Audacity - agree there. marvelous - a pity development seems to have stopped.

Launchie - another good one.

Although you do not use it enough to replace it, f...

2007-12-23T01:35:00.000+02:00
Although you do not use it enough to replace it, for those that do, calc can be replaced with Calcoo. Its available for Winblows as well as Linux/*nix/*BSD. (not sure about BeOS ;-) but its main selling point for me is RPN entry, although it has arithmetic as well.

Disk Defrag is much "weaker" than the incredible <...

2007-12-19T18:07:00.000+02:00
Disk Defrag is much "weaker" than the incredible jkdefrag, its safe, fast and gives you 30 to 40% speed gain. It really works, give it a try.

Screensaver should be Electric Sheep (www.electric...

2007-12-15T11:13:00.000+02:00
Screensaver should be Electric Sheep (www.electricsheep.org

I think the best replacement for Notepad is
2007-12-12T14:13:00.000+02:00
I think the best replacement for Notepad is Notepad++.

Oh, and I'd rather Trillian or Pidgin for IM than ...

2007-12-12T01:23:00.000+02:00
Oh, and I'd rather Trillian or Pidgin for IM than use some less used service like IMVU.

Most people use MSN, AIM, Yahoo! IM or Skype, which, except for Skype, are all supported by Trillian and Pidgin. Furthermore, it allows to centralize one's contacts and save a bit of resources in not running three/four/five programs at once for IM.

And... um, deleting files directly and using Restoration to recover them if you need to? Not sure that's the best of ideas; you'd only need to have a bit of bad luck with data overwriting the old location of the file and you're done for. Which can happen via a background process.

Interesting. I might look at some of the ones I do...

2007-12-12T01:16:00.000+02:00
Interesting. I might look at some of the ones I don't have later on. *bookmarks*

Personally, I would recommend Notepad++ over Notepad; it's much more useful. Add in the hex plugin, and you can do basic editing/viewing of hexadecimal files too...

However, I wouldn't recommend Notepad++ for editing markup code (HTML/CSS, BBCode, Wiki-code, etc.) if you want syntax highlighting. It handles programming languages a bit better, I think, but I'd still rather use Eclipse for that...

Oh, and for anyone who needs to do more than the basic calculations, Microsoft's own calculator PowerToy (Windows XP only? Not sure) is a step up from the included calc app. More pre-determined functions, the ability to type in a whole expression as text before submitting, a history of calculations, and a graphing function.

looks like you havent yet tried Notepad ++

2007-12-07T08:56:00.000+02:00
looks like you havent yet tried Notepad ++

Comments on The Thinking Blog ~ Knowledge Grows When Shared: Microsoft Substitutes

4 years on and I still use most of these programs ...

Can anyone recommend the robust Script Deployment ...

Thanks for the list of subs. Very useful for anyon...

Let me be the umpteenth to suggest several further...

as an replacement for notepad, i like notetab. its...

here is my recommendations after so many years of ...

replacement for IIS is XamppOutlook replacemen...

May be you should just use linux instead of instal...

What about ProcessExplorer instead of TaskManager?...

I like your collection of software very much I am ...

Give crimson editor a try, you will be amazed by t...

How about Linux for all of Windows? Ubuntu's is a ...

A great list of Microsoft alternatives. I use +50%...

Notepad = The only reliable Microsoft software!...

How do you put some of those programs on the compu...

Instead of Notepad I use Notepad++.

I love the capture of your desktop. Could you giv...

Ok, let's see, well as of 2.0 I would agree with F...

Although you do not use it enough to replace it, f...

Disk Defrag is much "weaker" than the incredible <...

Screensaver should be Electric Sheep (www.electric...

I think the best replacement for Notepad is 2007-12-12T14:13:00.000+02:00 I think the best replacement for Notepad is Notepad++.

Oh, and I'd rather Trillian or Pidgin for IM than ...

Interesting. I might look at some of the ones I do...

looks like you havent yet tried Notepad ++

replacement for IIS is Xampp
Outlook replacemen...

I think the best replacement for Notepad is
2007-12-12T14:13:00.000+02:00
I think the best replacement for Notepad is Notepad++.