Geek’s Arsenal

Really?

Well here are a few tools that make you different from others .For those who aspire to be a geek:

Dont hang around with apps in which everyone has proved his expertise.Popular apps for day to day use like Internet explorer,Windows media player,Adobe reader etc which are clad with cute interface & out of the world features that no one ever uses but are resourse hungry (eat up your RAM) & slow down your system!They are meant for kids & not for a geek like you!

1) Internet Browser:

Lets start with the browsers.You might be familiar with Microsoft’s IE & Firefox or Opera which are the major browsers with lots of features & cool interface.But if you dont care about the looks & want a speedy & light weight (read ‘which eats less RAM’).How about Browzar!It comes in a small setup pack which is immensly small compared to the others which are 7-9 MBs in size.Guess the size of Browzar…a humble 227 KBs.Its based on IE to save size & offers a clean interface thats good enough to kill your aesthetic hunger!

Browzar skins

Beside that, it is cool for all the naughty reasons! At some point or another we all need to use browse the Web discretely without our families, friends, colleagues or bosses knowing why. Browzar is your shot. Devoid of any configurable options (except that you can set your homepage),it offers a auto cleanup of browsing trail.With no files or entries stored anywhere in the system-no history,no cache,no cookies-Browzar acts as the best bridge between a good browser & privacy.It can be downloaded from www.browzar.com

2) Media Player:

Foobar is my ultimate choice when it comes to media players.Its a no-nonsense performer which is lightening fast in all fields:
–small setup file thats quick to download (only a little more than  2.5 MB  )
– instantly opens up when you click on the short-cut icon,unlike the others
which seem up years to open up!)
-its a breeze to configure the media library.
-hoads of configurable options that will give you hours of tweaking joy.You
never convince yoyrself that you’ve finished tweaking it!

the foobar icon

With its uber-cool performance & hazzle free cconsole it wins the race hands down with stalwarts like Windows media player & Winamp etc. which are not only resource hunters but also have all sorts of junk features which are scarcly used.It can be grabbed from www.foobar2000.org.The latest version has further advancements that sort of hurt its ‘light weight ‘ image! I recommend ver 0.9.5.3

3) Compression Tool :

WinRAR & WinZip are thepopular tools for file compression & extraction.But they are either trial versions or are not fully functional unless you buy the paid version.Also they are way too heavy when compared to the one I am going to introduce you :  7zip. Introducing high compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression,7zip is your best shot.It supports almost all the file compression formats & has a really small setup file thats only a little more than 900KBs.7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip. Self-extracting capability for 7z format is another format is yet another advantage. Its got powerful command line version for the ultimate geeks out there.Get it from www.7-zip.org

4) PDF Reader :

I am more than sure that most of you will be using Adobe reader for the purpose.But let me introduce Foxit Reader which is equally capable yet highly light!Its a breeze to download & install & opens up in a flash.You can do almost any thing with the PDF document using this piece of software than just reading it.Though it lacks the PDF editing capability (which available on in paid version) as it can’t save the edited version but you can very well take the print out after editing! Other exciting features include:
– a snap shot tool
– loads of preference settings
– easy switching between different page layouts
– optimised for LCD screens
– neatly laid out toolbars

Though its not too big on features but most of us need a PDF reader just for the main purpose that is reading it! Then,Foxit is your ultimate saviour thats much much lighter than the bloated Adobe reader!

5) Video Player :

How many times have you been annoyed by the message that your media player can’t play the required video file as it could not find the required codec.And then you are asked to search the net to find the needed codec. By the time you get one, your mood would have been murdered! VLC media player comes to your rescue

It was started as a student project at the École Centrale Paris.Initially named VideoLAN,it was developed to enable TV viewing on student PCs.Its been a huge success since then & is still being improved by the huge user community as it became open source in 2001.

VLC is a light player in terms of setup file,harddisc consumption & RAM usage! Despite its ‘lightweight’ its a’heavyweight’ when it comes to performance.No one does it better than VLC.Its robust & stable & plays almost any media file irrespective of its type.Its a cross platform dude & works equally well ii Mac OS X & various linux distros.Its the best media player around still being free.Its a must for every system! Go get it now from www.videolan.org

Hope you people like this small compilation.If you appreciate this & want more ,please leave a comment.