---
title: "Programs I can't live without"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2004/9/3/programs-i-cant-live-without.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2004/9/3/programs-i-cant-live-without.html"
published: "2004-09-03T19:06:00"
updated: "2004-09-03T19:06:00"
tags: ["Cool Tools", "Off Topic"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "ScottOnWriting asked his blog readers what programs they can't live without. Some great suggestions in there (and i'm not just saying that because The Regulator was mentioned 3 times in the comments ;) ) Here's a…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# Programs I can't live without

By Roy Osherove September 3, 2004 In [Cool Tools](https://osherove.com/blog/category/cool-tools), [Off Topic](https://osherove.com/blog/category/off-topic)

**Historical article** · Originally published September 3, 2004; technical details may be outdated.

[ScottOnWriting](http://scottonwriting.com/sowblog/posts/1770.aspx) asked his blog readers what programs they can't live without. Some great suggestions in there (and i'm **not** just saying that because [The Regulator](http://regulator.sourceforge.net/) was mentioned 3 times in the comments ;)  )

Here's a partial list of stuff I install on a new machine before I do most anything else:

- [The Google Toolbar](http://toolbar.google.com/)
- [Dav'es quick search bar](http://www.dqsd.com/)
- [Total Commander](http://www.ghisler.com/)
- [MSN Messenger](http://messenger.microsoft.com/)
- [UltraEdit](http://www.ultraedit.com/) (plus [all the WordFiles](http://www.ultraedit.com/downloads/additional.html) for Syntax highlighting every imaginable language)
- [Notepad2](http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html)
- Logitech Mouseware 9.10 (not the latest version! this specific version contains a feature which was dropped in the latest versions - "HyperJump" - a speed menu to close, scroll, minimize and other actions on the current window. Have to use my own CD. can't download that version anywhere..)
- [GetRight](http://www.getright.com/)
- [Powermarks](http://www.kaylon.com/power.html)  awesome bookmark utility which supports synchronization between multiple machines using their own site!(I need to get back to using it...)
- [IrfanView](http://www.irfanview.com/) (the fastest image viewer today. and its also free!)
- [Avant Browser](http://www.avantbrowser.com/)
- [Google GMail notifier](http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/)

Now for the stuff I install relating to my development experience:

- **Addins:**
- [CodeSmart for vs.net](http://www.axtools.com/)
- [C# Refactory](http://www.xtreme-simplicity.net/CSharpRefactory.html)
- [Resharper](http://www.avantfind.com/stat_simple.asp?url=http://www.intellij.com/resharper)
- [Nunit-Addin](http://weblogs.asp.net/NUnitAddin/) (not just for unit testing. It Allows ad-hoc debugging of **any** method with no params)
- **Other:**
- [Reflector](http://www.aisto.com/roeder/dotnet/)
- [FinalBuilder](http://www.finalbuilder.com/)
- [DsWatch](http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/DSWatch.asp) \- Dataset view in debugger Addin
- [Nunit](http://www.nunit.org/)
- [Beyond Compare 2.0](http://www.scootersoftware.com/)

What do you install first thing?

## More in Cool Tools

[All posts in Cool Tools](https://osherove.com/blog/category/cool-tools)

- Oct 12, 2004

    ### [TaskSwitchXP - free, cooler task switching](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/10/12/taskswitchxp-free-cooler-task-switching.html)

- Sep 3, 2004

    ### [Review - Resharper](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/9/3/review-resharper.html)

- Sep 3, 2004

    ### [WilsonORMapper at version 3.0, and what's an OR mapper anyway?](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/9/3/wilsonormapper-at-version-30-and-whats-an-or-mapper-anyway.html)

- Sep 1, 2004

    ### [Wanna win a free Visual Assist License?](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/9/1/wanna-win-a-free-visual-assist-license.html)


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

### Sites

- [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership.
- [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts.
- [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin.
- [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model.
- [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps.
- [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes).

### Social

- X: https://x.com/royosherove
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/

### Contact

- Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7

### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/