My New PC
Now that I'm using a shiny new Dell Inspiron 710m (with a horrible keyboard but a great screen) rather than a beautiful Powerbook, I feel constantly dazed and confused trying to set up my new computer.
First off, I keep looking for the Apple key to do simple stuff like cutting and pasting. And I keep trying to hit the keyboard shortcuts for stuff like Quicksilver, Expose, and Spotlight. And I miss Pukka, dammit. D'oh. I love being a n00b again; I haven't used a PC as my primary computer since 2003.
Because it's been so long since I've used a Windows machine, I have no idea what I need to setup to trick it out. There's already a host of anti-malware and anti-virus protection on here (Spybot, AVG, CCleaner, O&O Defrag, WinPatrol), thankfully. Office 2003 is already installed, as is Skype, iTunes, QuickTime, FileZilla, Nero, and PuTTY. What am I missing?
- I'm using GAIM for AIM for my two AIM accounts, and Google Talk for Gtalk. Is there a better way that doesn't involve Trillian Pro?
- What's the best Firefox theme? The default is driving me mad. I installed iFox Smooth but it seems out of place on a PC. I think I've installed all of my extensions again, which is nice.
- Replacement for Quicksilver on Windows: even just a launchbar would make me happy.
- Is there something like the 3-pane view on OS X for My Computer or Windows Explorer? Am I doomed to hitting the up or back button (or expand/collapse buttons) for the rest of my life?
Now, off to organize the freaking annoying mess of a Start menu I have. Why is it so difficult to organize these Programs into a logical hierarchy? Why can I not easily work around All Users of this machine versus My Account?
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
Comments
Candy Labs puts out a Quicksilver imitation, but it stinks and costs money. I think Sippey mentioned a Windows replacement for Quicksilver once, but I don't remember where.
kathryn, did you see snark's post where folks commented some about stuff they use to do these things in Windows? That's where Sippey commented about/linked his favorite, Slickrun. I prefer Find and Run Robot (linked in my comment to snark) because it finds file names and opens them rather than just launching programs as (I gather from reading the home page) Slickrun does. I think that if you're smarter than I am you can get it to actually do things like open a blank email, but I'm fairly certain that it won't do the full Quicksilver magic like appending text to a specific file or that sort of thing. But it's the closest I've found and I've been suffering from Quicksilver envy for over a year now.
As for Firefox themes, lint mentioned one the other day that he found very minimal, and went into how to make it moreso.
Instant Messaging: I'm using Gaim myself these days, though I'm not using it for as many different applications as you. I originally grabbed it for Jabber and MSN.
Firefox Theme: Alas, iFox Smooth was what I use. I'm not certain how exactly it is out of place on a PC. The other Firefox themes listed as the most downloaded are the most questionable.
I'd also point out that you might want to run Windows Update, find the setting that lets you edit file extensions when renaming them, and change the appearance to classic.
can't speak highly enough of slickrun. it doesn't have to live in your taskbar, and in fact, it basically makes the taskbar and start menu irrelevant. forget organizing your start menu -- it's a sisyphean task. you can keymap it to ctrl+space to bring it to life... in slickrun you can add shortcuts to URLs, files, folders, applications, etc., and you can also pass all those things variables. i've got a shortcut for google that brings up a box that lets me input the search terms; i've got one for our bug system that lets me input the bugid #.
i'd love a 3-pane view for windows explorer, but haven't found one yet. all the windows explorer hacks i've seen are just that -- hacks. nothing elegant. which is a drag...
oh, and gaim will do gtalk as well. no need to run a separate client. here's the i'm feeling lucky result for gtalk gaim.
I use a theme called "708090" in the blueit's simple and flat looking and does what I like - stays out of my sight, but when I need to do something, it's a quick process to discern the iconography. I don't like a lot of 3d and color and frippery on my browser, so if you're all about the aqua look, it might not be a fit, but it's gorgeous in its simplicty.
Unfortunately there are no IM clients for Windows that don't suck. I have a suspicion that there is a good client lurking within Trillian or one that could be built with various Miranda add-ons, but I have never had the patience to figure it out.
I'm not certain how exactly it is out of place on a PC.
The screenshots made it look weird, and very much like OS X, but I'm guessing I was looking at the wrong screenshots. I'm using it right now, and it's pretty nice.
I use gaim for messaging -- AIM, two Yahoo accounts, IRC, and two Jabber accounts (including Gtalk). I used Trillian for a long time, but I prefer gaim.
I recommend ZoneAlarm and Codestuff Starter as additional utility programs; they do a lot to help you control what Windows does behind your back.
I recommend ZoneAlarm
Oh yes, definitely. It's so nice to be able to keep track of when your computer's talking to whom.
Scotty the watchdog from WinPatrol is the utility that my company prefers, but I believe it does essentially the same thing as ZoneAlarm.
I use FindRun Robot as my Windows Quicksilver proxy: http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/
I found that on a "Great Software" list I stumbled on. Here are the file explorer recommendations from that list: http://www.anova.org/software/index07.htm#fileman
Personally, I actually much prefer the Windows explorer vs the Finder since I can just type 'alt-d' to jump into the address bar. You are running it in explorer mode right? (I think it's view folders or something so that the left bar has your folder tree - I'm on my MBP so I can't really check :)
Sorry, off topic.
Just dropping by to say hi. Six Apart gave me an account for the TypePad account. (^_^)
i've found the best firefox theme on windows to be qute -- the icons are attractive and it's one of the few that actually use whatever current windows theme you're using.
speaking of which, do a search for the royale theme for windows (oh, here it is) -- it's an official theme that only shipped with media center edition but runs on xp as well once installed, and is far more aesthetically pleasing than luna, which is the in-box one.
Brandon's favorite app-launcher (which he admits is not even close to Quicksilver but is the best he could get on Windows) is Launchy. I use his desktop from time to time, and hey, it works (and isn't totally ugly).
I can't believe this thread is on Vox! I've just started using a PC this week and needed a post like this with tips and tricks from people.
I've been very reluctant to switch to a PC. But, with my role on Vox and going back to my design roots, I've found that I need to design for the majority of our users. Anyway, even though I wasn't sure if I'd like the experience, I've found that the little things like the file browser thumbnails have helped my productivity a great deal. If only those dialogs would stop popping up about allowing programs to access the internet -- they stress me out.
I use Miranda as an IM client. I have AIM for work, MSN, Yahoo, and Gtalk. You'd need to download the add-on for the GTalk though. It's pretty decent.