Essential Software

The software in the table below is extremley usefull. I use most of these programs frequently.

• The link on the Name will take you to the information or download page.
• The company link will take you to the company's main page.

Most of this software is available as shareware, freeware or something similar.

Name (Click to download)	Company	Price	My Version (latest version)
Paint Shop Pro	Jasc	$99 ($US I think)	5.01
	Compression Utilities
Winzip	Nico Mac Computing	$29 (US $ I think)	7.0 SR-1
Win Rar
	Audio programs
AudioGrabber	(Jackie the late night hacker)	$25 (US $ I think)	1.21
WinAmp	Nullsoft	US$10	2.22 Comments
RealPlayer	RealNetworks	$29.99	6.03.143 [G2]
Uncook	John Tesoriero	Free	95
	Viewers
Acrobat Reader	Adobe	Free	4.0
Tumbleweed Viewer	Envoy
QuickTime Viewer	Apple	Free	3
QuickTime Viewer
Microsoft Viewers Office Viewers
Excell Viewer	Microsoft	Free
Word Viewer	Microsoft	Free	(07-Apr-97)
PowerPoint Viewer	Microsoft	Free
	Network Utilities
Wingate	Qbik / Deerfield		2.1 (3) Comments
ICQ	Mirabilis	Essentially free, may change	99 Beta
Cute FTP	GlobalSCAPE Inc	$34 ($US I think)
Communicator	Netscape	I'll have to find out.	4.5

Comments on Software

Wingate:

Wingate is an internet gateway program that lets you connect a LAN to the internet via a single connection (eg modem). It contains a proxy server to do this, but can also pipe other requests, eg FTP, IRC (mIRC is the only IRC client that I know of that allows socks5 to connect), ICQ (click here for instructions on how to do this). Wingate 2.1 had a free, lite edition liscense allowing the server and 1 guest computer to access the internet at any given time. Other guests have to wait. Version 3 has a different liscense allowing only a 30 day trial. A liscense is required for continued use of any type.

I have made the wingate 2.1 installer availiable here (Win '9x version) for those who want version 2.1, as it seems only version 3 is availiable elsewhere on the internet. As far as I know, there is nothing legally wrong with using version 2.1 .

Winamp is a windows media player. Highly configurable, it plays almost any sound files, with many powerfull options. It is efficient on resources, and can play MP3 files on a 486 (with slightly reduced quality). Many skins or interfaces are available, as well as plugins, which allow extra functionality, such as visualisation of the music. A 10 band equaliser is included.