Windows reinstall

[johnridley]

Windows 7 up on my machine. Doing a re-evaluation of installed software.

Changes so far:

FoxIt PDF reader is out. The latest version does not give you the choice to not install their browser toolbar. I'm trying Nitro reader instead. It looks interesting, it allows you do to tons of stuff with PDFs.

I'm going to try to live totally with 7Zip instead of WinRAR. The only disadvantage I can see is that it won't create RAR files, but 7z files are an acceptable alternative. I do own a copy of WinRAR but it's just one more thing I don't need.

Installed GIMP instead of a pirated copy of photoshop. I actually made this switch a month or so ago, uninstalling the pirated copy. I just feel like getting rid of the pirated stuff.

Microsoft Security Essentials and Microsoft Firewall instead of AVG and Comodo. The AVG->MSE change was a month or two ago now.

Not going to bother with World Community Grid on this machine. My favored app is ClimatePrediction.net, and since I've started putting my machine into standby mode whenever I'm away for more than a few minutes, the machine NORMALLY only runs maybe an hour or two a day, and Climate work units take hundreds of hours. I can't finish one before the due date, usually.

Comments

[c0nsumer.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I've been using Acrobat Reader X for normal PDF stuff, but Chrome's built in viewer for day to day viewing. The Chrome reader is outstanding. I also rather like Paint.NET instead of GIMP because (frankly) I think GIMP is about 20 steps backwards in usability, and Paint.NET does most of what I need.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

I tried using Chrome as a reader but I couldn't get it to launch when I double-clicked a PDF. No idea why. It was set as the viewer for that file type. When I double-clicked, it just acted like it was starting something but never did. I could drag/drop onto a running Chrome instance.

I'm hoping for improvement when the new GIMP comes out - they finally caved and provided a single window interface with dockable toolbars.

However, I hadn't heard about paint.net before, I'll give it a look.

[c0nsumer.livejournal.com]

Huh, that's odd. Then again, Chrome is definitely kinda odd.

That's good to hear about GIMP. As non-MDI I felt that it failed hard.

If I recall correctly Paint.NET was originally done by some guy to show what he could do with .NET, then it turned into a pretty decent little editor. I've still got (legit) copies of CS4 and Lightroom on my Mac so I use that for most real photo work so take my blessing with a grain of salt, but Paint.NET does everything I need day to day at work for image/screenshot tweaking and annotation.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

OK, I tried paint.net for about 5 minutes. It's nowhere near as powerful as GIMP, and I found it much more confusing to use. It seems like it's modeled after MS Paint, rather than a "real" photo/graphics editing program. It's sufficient for putting a few circles and arrows on the 8x10s but it doesn't really look capable of significant work.

[c0nsumer.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's possible. I don't use it for more than basic tweaks.

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

Didn't your scanner come with Photoshop Essentials?

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Yes, but it's enough different than Photoshop that I'd have a new program to learn either way, and GIMP is at least as powerful as PE.

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

Hm, I occasionally have to use Tegan's PE, and don't find it that off from the full PS that I use. Not nearly so far off as GIMP seems to be.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

You're probably right, but I already had some familiarity with GIMP.

PE probably bothered me more because it LOOKS like Photoshop but it has signficant keystroke difference. If a program looks the same but acts differently it causes a cognitive dissonance that really bothers me. GIMP is very different, but it looks very different too so I know where I stand.

Also, I need a graphics editor at work too, and it's easier to just install GIMP there and use it in both places.