
Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows - Walkman
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottHanselmans2014UltimateDeveloperAndPowerUsersToolListForWindows.aspx
======
to3m
I don't know why people have such a blind spot in this regard, but Visual
Studio's non-support for word-wrapping comments is obviously shameful. It's
utterly ridiculous that you have to press Return while writing comments, and
then more ridiculous yet that you have to go back and re-wrap them by hand
when they change! - and the end result of course is that people usually don't
bother, with the wrapping becoming steadily more ragged over time. Which looks
shit.

So, I'll recommend this addin, that fixes it pretty nicely:

[http://kynosarges.org/CommentReflower.html](http://kynosarges.org/CommentReflower.html)

Though, you know... I've recommended this to numerous people over the years.
And all of them have gone and ignored me. So perhaps I'm just unusual, and
people like the raggedy look. Still, Comment Reflower gets my vote.

~~~
TheAnimus
To be honest it's not a problem I have, I like to keep my comments short and
punchy. If I'm writing war and peace, it will only ever be for the class
comment at the top, for some reason I manually do my own line breaks then as I
feel it can be used to break up thought and provide emphasis.

However, I'm also a GhostDoc fan:
[http://submain.com/products/ghostdoc.aspx](http://submain.com/products/ghostdoc.aspx)
So I appreciate some people consider me to be inherently evil/lazy.

~~~
noselasd
Even if it's a problem you'd have, you really have a luxury problem if having
to press enter when writing comments is the thngs you worry about when
delivering code.

~~~
corresation
That's very dismissive of a very real problem. When you add friction to
comments, people either

a) Don't write them in the first place. b) Don't keep them up to date (as to3m
mentioned, it is utterly ridiculous when you need to update a comment and then
need to reflow every following sentence. Many developers will simply not do
it).

Additionally another counterpoint seems to be "my comments are short anyways",
which would make me question why comment in the first place? In most cases
where I've seen short comments, they were completely unnecessary redundant
restating of exactly what the code already tells you.

The comments that really add real value don't try to pseudo-code the code, but
instead tell you the why of the code. It is extremely hard to describe why in
80 characters or less.

~~~
to3m
Yes, I've found this too. Comments that are useful to more than just the
original author tend to be at least 2-3 sentences long. It's hard to fit that
many sentences into 80 characters, a total which is already being eaten away
by indentation and comment prefix. (For example, your average C# function will
be indented 2 stops. C++ member function declarations will be indented 1 or 2
stops. In both these cases you also lose 2 or 3 chars from the leading "//" or
"// ".)

Before I used Comment Reflower, I used one of the example VBA macros that
comes with Visual Studio. It was rather slow, and somewhat buggy (you're much,
much better of with Comment Reflower) but it _would_ \- usually - word wrap
your comments without making too much of a mess. But I noticed my comments
improving in quality pretty much the moment I started using it, because
finally I could say as much as needed to be said without it being a bother to
keep things nicely formatted, or having to even think about the effort of
keeping it up to date later.

------
cowkingdeluxe
I agree having Paint.NET on this list, it is pretty good. I used paint shop
pro 6 (yes, the one made in 1999) and switched to Paint.NET last year. It has
really expanded my capabilities with regard to art for game development.

To get the most out of Paint.NET check out their plugins
([http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/forum/7-plugins-
publis...](http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/forum/7-plugins-publishing-
only/)). It seems like there is a plugin for anything you can think of.

~~~
sergiotapia
Another vote of confidence for Paint.NET from me. It's gotten to a point where
I know the shortcuts by heart and can cut, resize, apply tweaks to images very
very quickly and it integrates perfectly with windows.

It doesn't look horrible like GIMP. Please donate if you can, even $5 helps!

~~~
k3n
IMO it has a different place than GIMP, and they actually co-exist on my
system. GIMP is more of a PhotoShop clone, whereas Paint.NET is more of a PSP
clone and/or MSPaint on steroids. I've found that PS/GIMP are usually best for
creating a production-quality image from scratch or for touching up full-color
photos, but Paint.NET is best for doing informal graphical work (mock-ups,
screenshot annotations, etc.)

------
gchucky
A great list overall. One alternative I'd offer: he recommends Github for
Windows and Tortoise as Git clients. I've been using SourceTree for Windows
([http://www.sourcetreeapp.com/](http://www.sourcetreeapp.com/)) and it's
excellent. They've done a great job maintaining and keeping it up to date.

~~~
adamors
SourceTree is such a great program. It's also very intuitive and nooby
friendly, as opposed to Github for Windows which never seized to confuse me
and I've been using Git for years.

With SourceTree, people completely new to Git and version control can get
things done.

~~~
moron4hire
"seized to confuse" love it. that is better than the original.

------
alan_cx
Just a couple of things.

uTorrent got iffy once it was bought out. IIRC, you want version 0.6 This was
very small, fast and unmolested.

VLC. For years used to be absolutely fantastic. When it came out, a god send.
I'd tell anyone listening to use it. Sadly, recently its caused me loads of
sync problems, and various other minor niggles. As a result, I have had to
reverted to CCCP. When VLC works for me, it is the best, but when it doesn't,
CCCP fills the gap. In fairness, maybe a recent VLC update will cure my
problems. Dunno.

Foobar2000 needs a mention, especially with Winamp going. My PC is connected
to my amp directly via USB, and FLAC files sound incredibly good. (These days,
hifi wise, MP3 is, to me, awful. They kinda sound dead. You lose so much
detail and depth. But that's a whole new discussion) You can also get a great
little app for Android that you can remote control foobar2000 with over your
lan.

~~~
k3n
Foobar2000 is a great project, it's tremendously efficient (I think it uses
10-20mb when running), and the plugin feature allows you to extend it however
you wish.

------
suhair
Cmder[[http://bliker.github.io/cmder/](http://bliker.github.io/cmder/)] from
that list changed how i view a windows commandline. My best windows tool
discovery in 2013.

~~~
toni
That's just a repackaged ConEmu. Nothing earth-shattering under the sun.

~~~
suhair
"Looking sexy from the start" is what it matters for me

~~~
toni
Still, it is nothing new, just a repackaging of old software.

~~~
suhair
I dont understand why repackaging is bad for Cmder. I was desperately looking
for cmd alternative and found Console 2 a few years back. Then heard about
ConEmu but it didn't made me even to try but Cmder did.

~~~
alok-g
How would you compare Cmder and Console2?

------
aktau
Even though I barely touch windows these days, when I do, I invariably use
"everything" ([http://www.voidtools.com/](http://www.voidtools.com/)) to find
where everything is. So fast, so minimalistic. It's like locate on crack
(because it shows you stuff as you type and it automatically updatedb's).

~~~
sz4kerto
Windows 8.1 built-in search kind of makes this redundant.

~~~
gabrielrdz
no way windows search will ever replace Everything. Windows search is slow and
it will not find whatever document you want 90% of the time.

~~~
sz4kerto
Well, it's very-very fast in 8.1. I don't know why it does not find the
document you want - it works quite well for me, YMMV obviously.

~~~
maxerickson
Have you used Everything?

It is instant file name search. I guess recent Windows could have improved
file name searching, but it has classically been pretty bad.

~~~
nightski
Actually not really if you set up an index on C:\ it is quite fast, which is
basically the main difference. But there is not one by default so you need to
add it.

------
iaskwhy
A few more I use:

SSH Tunnel Manager (open source). I don't really like managing tunnels via cmd
so here's a GUI to do just that. [https://code.google.com/p/ssh-tunnel-
manager/](https://code.google.com/p/ssh-tunnel-manager/)

CryptSync (open source). This keeps a folder in sync with another one but
encrypts the content of the destination folder. It's extremely useful to use
with Dropbox where I keep everything encrypted.
[http://stefanstools.sourceforge.net/CryptSync.html](http://stefanstools.sourceforge.net/CryptSync.html)

Greenshot (open source). I use this to get screenshots of a particular area of
the screen like I would do on OSX with CTRL+SHIFT+4.
[http://getgreenshot.org/](http://getgreenshot.org/)

Prepos App. A generic preprocessor for everything web (js, css, etc).
[http://alphapixels.com/prepros/](http://alphapixels.com/prepros/)

SPlayer (open source). I have no idea with I enjoy this video player more than
VLC but I do.
[http://www.splayer.org/index.en.html](http://www.splayer.org/index.en.html)

VistaSwitcher. It's an ALT+TAB replacement.
[http://www.ntwind.com/software/vistaswitcher.html](http://www.ntwind.com/software/vistaswitcher.html)

~~~
Tyr42
Did you know about the snipping tool included with Win7? I think it replaces
Greenshot.

~~~
iaskwhy
I prefer Greenshot because I can do some magic like autosaving each shot in a
particular format and folder. It also allows me to save and copy to clipboard
so I can with just one click have it available to paste into a new Gmail
message while keeping it saved on the disk. I use this a lot every day.

------
strick
Great list! I would also include
[http://www.expandrive.com/expandrive](http://www.expandrive.com/expandrive)
which lets you mount any server with SSH as a local hard drive.

------
rschmitty
No idea why he would use Notepad2, ST3 loads up just as fast and provides way
more features for text editing. Plus it is good with markdown syntax
highlighting thus eliminating the need for MarkdownPad

Also Github for windows or just Git bash covers the need for Gow

Jabbr is ok, but I havent been able to give up mIRC

Also he left off a good tabbed ssh/putty

Great list, learned lots of new things thanks!

~~~
RexRollman
I _love_ Notepad2. It is one of the programs I always install when I have
Windows installed.

~~~
InTheSwiss
Agreed Notepad2 is pretty much perfect. I have been meaning to try out
Notepad2-mod for a while as I would quite like the code folding.

One thing I would like (and might change myself if I ever get around to
setting up my own build of it) is for it to remember its last position. At the
moment you can save the location but it is annoying and should be automatic
(IMHO).

------
wrongc0ntinent
AutoHotkey is a great way to get your kids coding. Not sure if there's
anything like it for what kids use most nowadays, iOS and Android tablets, but
having them make macros and letting them manipulate their favorite piece of
software in ways they didn't think possible is usually an eye opener.

Edit: I'd add SpaceSniffer to this list.

~~~
dave1010uk
Tasked is like an Android version of AutoHotKey. You can even use it to create
APKs, which you can distribute in the Play store. I've used it to do loads of
things, like unlock my phone based on WiFi, send automatic responses, and log
the GPS coordinates when I leave the car.

[http://tasker.dinglisch.net/](http://tasker.dinglisch.net/)

~~~
Tyr42
There's on{X} [1], but I haven't used it myself.

[1]: [https://www.onx.ms/#!landingPage](https://www.onx.ms/#!landingPage)

------
gus_massa
Two additional utilities y like:

* 7+ Taskbar Tweaker ( [http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker](http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker) ): allows you to configure various aspects of the Windows taskbar, for example reorder and regroup the programs in the taskbar.

* Network Activity Indicator ([http://www.itsamples.com/network-activity-indicator.html](http://www.itsamples.com/network-activity-indicator.html) ): displays the old 'two monitors' icon in Windows 7 that flashed blue to show network activity. (Well, this don’t belong to the OP list because the only purpouse is to clutter the systray, but _I_ like it.)

------
raveli
Great list of suggestions. While many of us on HN prefer Linux or OS X for any
development work, it doesn't mean we don't at least occasionally work on
Windows machines. Knowing how to make that experience more smooth definitely
helps.

Going through the list of suggestions there was one particular item that
stopped me to think. Living close to the arctic circle where sun never rises
with the winter solstice approaching, trying F.lux
([http://justgetflux.com/](http://justgetflux.com/)) felt at first a bit
depressing with the app interpreting it's night even though it was noon. But
then again, I guess most things have a tendency to feel depressing at this
time of year.

~~~
abrowne
I used F.lux for a long time, but now prefer Redshift[1][2] on OS X and Linux.
(I think it has Windows support too, although I haven't tried it.) F.lux
seemed to use a lot of CPU considering what it was doing.

[1] Linux: try your package manager or
<[https://github.com/jonls/redshift/>](https://github.com/jonls/redshift/>)

[2] OS X fork
<[https://github.com/geofft/redshift>](https://github.com/geofft/redshift>)

------
Havoc
Nice list. Can't say I agree with everything, but preferences vary.

I'd add though: ninite, notepad++, foobar, windows snipping tool and maybe
cdxpburner.

NB both CDXPBurner and Imgburner come with Opencandy adware in some versions
and are sneaky about it.

~~~
hobs
If you like windows snipping tool,
[http://getgreenshot.org/](http://getgreenshot.org/) is an open source
software that does all the things that snipper does, and more (like a snagit
replacement). Window, region, freeform windows. Uploads to various services.
Configuration to allow automatic save locations and types.

I use it every day!

~~~
morganherlocker
I second this one. I have used it for years as my default snipper.

~~~
zackboe
I've been a huge fan of ShareX (previously ZScreen) for quite awhile. I
believe it incorporates Greenshot.

[http://getsharex.com](http://getsharex.com)

~~~
hobs
Oooh, I am going to take a look. I love greenshot, so interesting stuff built
on top of it is worth some time. This is why OSS is the best.

------
PavlovsCat
my 2 cents:

\- TreeSize ( and/or SequoiaView ) -- see where the big files/directories are
on your harddrives

\- Piriform CrapCleaner -- deletes unwanted/unneeded files after booting;
configure all of it, then add folders and log files manually (find good
candidates with Treesize ;) I like all Piriform tools, they're small, quick
and slick. I wish they made more things.

\- any SysInternals stuff you have a use for (Autoruns is a must have)

\- DirectoryOpus -- the best file manager I know

\- FreeFileSync -- backup/synchronize directories (locally, that is). Can also
monitor directories for changed stuff (also for Mac and Linux)

~~~
voltagex_
I'd swap out Treesize for Windirstat (Free-er) and FreeFileSync for PathSync
(which I really need to fork one day)

~~~
PavlovsCat
I never heard of WinDirStat before, it's like Treesize and SequoiaView rolled
into one! Thanks a lot :)

~~~
voltagex_
And this is why I still read every utilities/tools thread.

Another cool one that needs a new maintainer is SelfImage: it can make a disc
image of a running Windows system and even connect to a Linux network block
device.

------
wslh
I suggested the author to review my company product SpyStudio that has a free
version and is being used by Microsoft MVPs and VMware to troubleshoot Windows
issues.

If you need a trustworthy source, here is a video from Peter Björk (
[http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/author/peter_bjork](http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/author/peter_bjork)
) showing how to troubleshoot a ThinApp package:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sLxeoB7Bho](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sLxeoB7Bho)

~~~
RBerenguel
Hmmm "the author" works at Microsoft, I'm not sure if you are aware of this

~~~
wslh
Yes, what's the issue with that?

~~~
RBerenguel
Somehow the way you stated "used by Microsoft..." seemed disconnected from
this fact, and just in case you didn't know I wanted to point it out. Since
you know, no problem anywhere :)

~~~
mhurron
He said 'used by Microsoft MVP's.' There is a difference, MVP's aren't
Microsoft employees.

------
pkrumins
Here's my list of tools:

[http://www.catonmat.net/blog/must-have-windows-
programs/](http://www.catonmat.net/blog/must-have-windows-programs/)

Must Have Windows Programs

~~~
isxek
This was written in 2010. Any plans for updating this list? (e.g., the link
for "tclock2" is dead).

------
patrickk
A word of warning about TerraCopy- it can cause annoying errors when copying.
I transferred many gigs of data from one computer to another over a LAN, some
files transferred fine, others looked like they copied ok, but were actually
0kb in size on closer look.

I'm not sure if it was a bug in that particular version or with the setup
being used, but once I uninstalled TerraCopy the errors ceased.

~~~
Havoc
TC occasionally bombs out if you queue too much stuff - i.e. it just closes
... and thus looks like its done when really its not. Maybe thats why you got
0kb files.

Win7 + copying is decent enough for most non-lan purposes though.

Speaking on copying failing - I stopped using TotalCommander for that reason.
It just says disk full (not true) out of the blue. Messaged the author & got
some bullshit response.

~~~
noinsight
> Win7 + copying is decent enough for most non-lan purposes though.

It's not. If a single file fails on Win7 it cancels the whole operation (how
is that possible on an OS released in 2009?! Fixed in Win8 though, that will
never be used in corporations though), it fails if the path becomes longer
than 255 characters etc.

Robocopy works but I'd much rather use rsync which is not available on Windows
unless you use hacked up versions with cygwin.

A good reliable copying tool is sorely missing. Sure, there's all sorts of
alternatives but I'm not willing to use it unless it's open source. The other
comment on this thread talking about FastCopy got me curious, I'll have to try
that (it's open source!).

~~~
Havoc
>If a single file fails on Win7 it cancels the whole operation

No it doesn't? It pauses it & gives you an option to retry / cancel. So if
another app is using the file you can close it & continue.

------
kirtijthorat
Scott Hanselman's list is amazing! A must-have for everyone in the tech
industry. A decade worth of work at your fingertips. These are all well loved
and often used utilities. I have curated my own list of utilities out of this
humongous list. I truly appreciate the amount of hard work and many hours of
research put together in making this list by Scott Hanselman.

------
dyml
[http://tabstospaces.com](http://tabstospaces.com)

I often copy code from my IDE to my blog or other Markdown formatters. I
always have to add four spaces or convert tabs to spaces so that it gets
formatted as code block. This extremely fast and simply site just brings a
simple and easy solution to my problem.

~~~
isxek
For multiple files: _TABS2Spaces_
([http://bluefive.pair.com/tabs2spaces.htm](http://bluefive.pair.com/tabs2spaces.htm)),
which is a GUI application, and _tabspace_
([http://stefanstools.sourceforge.net/tabspace.html](http://stefanstools.sourceforge.net/tabspace.html)),
which is a CLI one. The latter also removes trailing whitespace (though it can
be told not to via the /leaveeol parameter).

------
michael_fine
Does anyone know of a list similar in scale and scope for Mac users?

~~~
rbanffy
1 item: macports

Seriously, that's all you need.

~~~
mikeevans
I have stopped using macports since I tried homebrew. Is there any reason for
me to switch back?

~~~
johncoltrane
What was your reason to switch away in the first place?

------
pagade
Although he mentions Hyper-V Virtual Machines, the real winner for me is
VMware Player
([http://www.vmware.com/in/products/player/](http://www.vmware.com/in/products/player/)).
Its just like a audio/video player but for Virtual Machines.

------
japaget
Great list. I'd add one more program: Agent Ransack at
[http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/](http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/)
. It's a file search utility that is orders of magnitude better than the
utility built into Windows.

~~~
Joeri
Yes, the problem i have with the built-in windows search is that I never
really know what it's searching and therefore i don't know how exhaustive its
results are. Agent ransack has a very precise ui, you know exactly what you're
searching for and which folders you're searching in. It's great for when you
have to trawl through millions of lines of code across dozens of projects to
find the references to a database column to be migrated. I use it depressingly
often for that, but it does it really well.

------
ghh
IMDisk, a virtual disk driver and disk image mount utility that is
lightweight, ad-free, and actually supports Windows 2000 to 8.1 [1]. It's also
open-source.

[1] [http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/](http://www.ltr-
data.se/opencode.html/)

------
polskibus
There's a lot about asking people not to copy the list to their own blogs
which kind of spoils the first impression to me - especially that the note is
before the fold.

Does the HN crowd have an opinion on this? Did you find the note a bit weird ?

~~~
porker
No - copy and pasting is endemic, and if he wants to keep a list that's his
(rather than have it shared on 50+ 'latest might-get-ad-clicks content'
websites), then good for him.

~~~
jzwinck
But his appeal will not stop those copiers, and it does annoy his intended
audience.

------
jhasse
Is anyone using TouchCursor
([http://touchcursor.sourceforge.net/](http://touchcursor.sourceforge.net/) )?
I really like the idea, but I'm not sure if I should try to stick with it.

~~~
wx196
Thank you for mention of this wonderful software. I tried to do the same with
Autohotkey, but it is much simpler with TouchCursor. So I have been working
with it for 2 days, it is unusual for the first time, but not so hard. Now I
have fast text navigation tool, much better than Home, End etc. keys.

------
Afforess
Great post. However there is 1 great utility missing:

Clover: Chrome-like tabs for your file explorer. No more having dozens of file
windows up. Just one. [http://ejie.me](http://ejie.me)

~~~
MarkTee
Awesome! I love being able to middle-click to open something in a new tab,
especially the folder that I'm currently viewing.

------
oliwary
My favorite tool on the list is Everything search, which instantly finds all
files. It has completely changed the way I use the file system, to the point
where I will rarely even open the Windows Explorer.

------
thearn4
For python development, I'd also add Python(x,y) and/or Anaconda distributions
for windows. They're binary installers that give you cpython interpreters +
the kitchen sink when it comes to third party libraries and development tools.

Also, I have to disagree with the author about recommending µTorrent. It's
become more and more adware ridden with each new update. Deluge is pretty good
though.

~~~
wslh
You can't forget Python tools for Visual Studio
[http://pytools.codeplex.com/](http://pytools.codeplex.com/) !

~~~
McP
It is indeed rather nice. However I just started using PyCharm and it's on a
whole other level:
[http://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/](http://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/)

~~~
wslh
I tried both, why do you prefer PyCharm? Personally I like the Visual Studio
IDE. The main concern I found with the VS extension is that is using 1/4 of
the CPU all the time but with PyCharm I saw a similar behavior.

~~~
smortaz
[ptvs proj lead here] - thanks wslh! is the cpu really going at 25% the entire
time? this should definitely /not/ happen. what will happen is that when you
1st install PTVS the analyzer will run in the background for a while until the
completion database is ready for pkgs you've installed. after that it should
be incremental as you add new pkgs. the initial analysis may take a while if
you have a very large distro (15-45m) & run up the cpu. but after that it
should be pretty flat. if you could file an issue w the list of your pkgs (if
possible) we can look into it. bugs:
[http://pytools.codeplex.com/workitem/list/basic](http://pytools.codeplex.com/workitem/list/basic)

thx!

~~~
wslh
I saw similar issues from other users:
[https://pytools.codeplex.com/workitem/1042](https://pytools.codeplex.com/workitem/1042)

I have "big" packages such as NLTK. Do you recommend to leave the Visual
Studio open for a while?

~~~
smortaz
NLTK itself shouldnt take thaaat long, but if you have a large distro that
includes the kitchen sink, it could take ~ an hour +/\- depending on your
machine. the reward is you get really deep intellisense, not just basic
completion. the bug you linked is fixed btw.

------
hndl
Does anyone know of (or have) a similar list for OSX?

~~~
8ig8
Here ya' go:

[http://carpeaqua.com/2013/10/27/my-ultimate-developer-and-
po...](http://carpeaqua.com/2013/10/27/my-ultimate-developer-and-power-users-
tool-list-for-os-x-2013-edition-/)

My Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for OS X (2013 Edition)

> The idea for this list was shamelessly ripped off from Windows developer
> Scott Hanselman whose list has long been an enjoyable read when he updates
> it.

------
nhebb
> "NimbleText - Regular Expressions are hard and I'm not very smart.
> NimbleText lets me do crazy stuff with large amounts of text with it hurting
> so much [sic]."

In case it's unclear from the description, NimbleText is a simple code
generator. It's saved me a ton of time and keystrokes. Well worth the $20.

~~~
JackMorgan
> "NimbleText - Regular Expressions are hard and I'm not very smart.
> NimbleText lets me do crazy stuff with large amounts of text with it hurting
> so much [sic]."

I couldn't even read this part without laughing, all I hear is: "I'm too lazy
to spend a few hours learning the free, extremely powerful tools available to
me, so I'll use this weaker substitute instead. And it's only 20 bucks!"

I overcame my eye rolling, and checked out the tool. It looks fine, but it
seems like just a GUI over regex, right? Am I missing anything?

~~~
brudgers
If you're missing something, perhaps it is the use of literary license. The
article is written for an audience not as a therapeutic journal. Sure regular
expressions can be learned as quickly as one can type

    
    
          del *.*
    

but a few hours of study isn't going to make much of their syntax stick two
weeks later, and two weeks between uses is a lot more frequent than most
computer users use them. Everyone ain't a programmer.

~~~
justinmk
> Sure regular expressions can be learned as quickly as one can type
    
    
        del *.*
    

That is not a regex, it's a glob/wildcard pattern.

~~~
6cxs2hd6
Well it's _also_ a regexp: It's "del" followed by zero or more spaces followed
by zero or more of any char. :)

Although I feel competent with moderately complex regexps, I'm not sure I'd
want to use them instead of globs while slinging my valuable files at the
command line.

Which I think goes back to the ancestor point -- is it crazy to use a GUI to
make regexps for you? Although I too can get snooty about that, I think it's
smart for someone who doesn't use regexps frequently in their work -- but on
the rare occasions they need to, they need to get it _right_.

------
ufmace
Nice list! I see a few things I already have, and a bunch more that I'll check
out.

A question for those who spend more time doing front-end web development: What
do all of these much-touted Firefox development plugins like Firebug do that
Chrome developer tools doesn't do?

~~~
avenger123
I've used both and for some reason on another the Firefox ones just seem more
user friendly. Maybe its because I started with Firebug in some ways but the
Firefox tools seem better implemented from a usability perspective.

------
MichaelMoser123
I recommend far manager -
[http://www.farmanager.com/](http://www.farmanager.com/) It looks and acts
like Norton commander for windows - in text mode; it has many plugins, can't
live without it.

Another one missing is vim / gvim.

------
shocks
Disappointed that clink [1] didn't make it onto this list. :( Clink brings
Bash's powerful command line editing to Microsoft Windows' cmd.exe!

1: [http://code.google.com/p/clink/](http://code.google.com/p/clink/)

~~~
shanselman
I think it's in Cmder but I will update to include it because I know I use it.

~~~
guiambros
Another vote for clink. Makes Windows command prompt a lot more digestible.

~~~
shanselman
It's built into CMDER. But I've added it to the list to make it clear. Thanks!

------
AlexDanger
So has anyone found a decent Windows text/XML editor for large files?
Notepad++ is great but I've noticed it a bit unwieldy with 50MB+ XML files. I
find myself using svndiff if I need to compare large XML files. The
performance is much better.

------
ericcholis
Non-Windows users should still grep this list. There are some multi-platform
tools listed.

------
m0skit0
One question: why would I bother installing all that when I can simply use a
UNIX clone which on top of that is absolutely free? And as always with
Windows: oh you got PowerShell, so adorable... Here, check bash/zsh

~~~
recursive
No one is suggesting installing all of that. If you're happy with a UNIX
clone, no one's telling you to do otherwise.

------
ionelm
I'm surprised AltDrag[1] didn't make it in the list. It's incredibly useful !

[1] [http://code.google.com/p/altdrag/](http://code.google.com/p/altdrag/)

------
RexRollman
I don't use Windows all the time but I do have some favorite programs:

    
    
      Firefox
      Notepad2
      7zip
      Faststone Image Viewer
      Foobar2000
      Mame
      ExactAudioCopy
      FLAC
      LAME
      Jhead

------
stusmall
What's the best hex editor on Windows these days? I'm rarely on it but when I
am I usually use the Notepad++ plugin for it but love to hear about something
better

~~~
to3m
I use HxD ([http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/);](http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/\);) it's
freeware and doesn't suck.

(Previously I used XVI32
([http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.h...](http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm))
and frhed
([http://frhed.sourceforge.net/en/](http://frhed.sourceforge.net/en/)), which
are both usable. They both have somewhat non-standard UI though.

------
curiousDog
Does anyone know of a similar list for OSX?

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ijoyce
I would add scoop. [http://scoop.sh/](http://scoop.sh/)

------
wil421
Does anyone have a list similar to this for OS X?

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bberrry
I love checking out lists like this.

------
peterkarson
"Everyone collects utilities"

Speak for yourself. I don't collect utilities.

~~~
mamby
don't be junk!

