How to run a PC without Microsoft apps

A READER HAS written to tell us how he's managing his PC and his life without using Microsoft applications.

He said he's replaced Microsoft software he used to use with as much third party software as possible. However, he said, there was one additional requirement and that was the software had to be freeware.

Here's his list.

MEDIAPLAYER winamp 2.x for audio and bsplayer for video. Smaller memory footprint, more features and skinning support. www.winamp.com, www.bsplayer.com.

OFFICE Open Office, starts up slower and not completely compatible with all office documents tho. but a step in the right direction. www.openoffice.org.

IE+OUTLOOK Mozilla, that's a given (with built in email client, dunno how it would stack up to The Bat tho, probably a lot worse, but it's not microsoft. Smartftp for all ftp stuff. www.mozilla.com, www.smartfp.com.

MESSENGER trillian, neat little program that replaces all IM clients, support for Yahoo messenger, icq, aol, irc, msn and a lot faster with skinning support. www.trillian.cc

PHOTOEDITOR Part of office suite - used it before just for viewing images, since more advanced programs load so long Irfanview - loads instantly and has wider support/features. Photoeditor couldn't open a 11mb jpeg while this proggie can. www.irfanview.com.

NOTEPAD/WRITEPAD editpad. has a paid for variant that's pretty good too. Here.

SHELL Not wanting to rely on IE i replaced the shell with geoshell, now using windows98se + 95 shell for file handling and geoshell for desktop. Surprisingly stable with latest patches etc. www.litepc.com, www.geoshellx.com

He adds: "I still have a copy of IE6 on it for the DLLs that some other proggys use too. Strangely enough it doesn't crash on that line of html code. Zonealarm, adaware, cdex are also some indispensable freeware tools + the ones I got from your site (process viewer, antivirus, ...).

The end result looks a bit like this. µ

See Also
Bat out of Hell saves Mageek again Review
Sygate Personal Firewall Review
The INQUIRER guide to protecting your PC
Open Office for Windows Review