After reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling Windows Vista Business Edition I have been left with a clean slate. I am left looking at a blank desktop it is not until I start trying to work on a project that I realise how many third party applications I have come to rely on so in this post I will go through them.

Internet Tools

• Firefox (Free) – Open source web browser. Download Firefox.
• FlashGet (Free) – Free Download accelerator. Download FlashGet.
• COMODO Firewall (Free) – Simple easy to use free firewall. Download COMODO Firewall.
• Windows Live Writer (Free) – A excellent free tool to compose blog posts. Download Live Writer.

Trading Tools

• Rapid Miner (Free) – Free data mining toolkit. Download Rapid Miner.
• QuantLib (Free) – A free finance programming library. Download QuantLib.
• Octave (Free) – A free MATLAB implementation. Download Octave.
• MetaTrader (Free) – A free FOREX application. Download Metatrader.
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Profesional (Commercial) – Programming suite. Visit Site.
• Trader XL Pro (Commercial) – An all in one trading solution. Download Trial.
• Microsft Excel 2007 (Commercial) – A must have for any trader. Visit Site.

System Tools

• NotePad++ (Free) – A free feature packed replacement for notepad. Download Notepad++.
• AVG antivirus (Free/Commercial) – Easy to use virus scanning solution. Visit Site.
• PDF Creator (Free) – Easily create PDF files from any application. Download PDF Creator.
• 7-zip (Free) – Open any compressed file you should come across. Download 7-Zip.
• Sync Toy (Free) – Backup or sync your files to a storage device. Download Sync Toy.
• CCleaner (Free) – Clean and optimize your system. Download CCleaner.
• VirtualBox (Free) – Create a sandbox for testing apps on production system. Download VirtualBox.
• KeePass (Free) – A simple tool for managing login credentials. Download KeePass.

Image and Video Tools

• Paint.Net (Free) – A free Image editing application. Download Paint.Net.
• IrfanView (Free) – Open any image file. Download IrfanView.
• VLC (Free) – Play any format video file. Download VLC.

Poker Tools

• PokerStove (Free) – A free poker equity calculator. Download PokerStove.
• PokerHands (Still in Beta Testing Free) – Good draw poker tracking software. Download PokerHands.
• PokerProLabs Tools (Commercial) – A suite of useful tools. Visit site.
• Hold’em Manager (Commercial) Tracking software for hold’em. Visit site.