Software that does not suck

2015-08-23

It’s pretty time consuming to research which software you want to use for a specific task. Here I’ve compiled a list of my preferences for, in my opinion, the best software for different tasks.

Included are also software to avoid, along with reasons.

Web browser

Avoid:

Edge: given IE’s abysmal historical track record, why would I trust Microsoft not to screw up again? Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
Internet Explorer: IE has historically slowed down the progress of the web platform and has always been behind the innovation.

Read PDF files

Google Chrome: has built-in PDF viewer
SumatraPDF: excellent open source PDF reader - no installation required

Avoid:

Adobe PDF: slow and bloated

Find out where that disk space went

TreeSize free

Print to PDF

CutePDF Writer: It was once good software, but now the installer tries to trick users into installing shit like Ask toolbar or Winzip registry optimizer.

However, there seems to be no sensible alternative, so CutePDF is still recommended.

Avoid:

doPDF: Does not work over remote desktop. Downloads from suspicious looking soft112.com. Questionably large download size.
BullZip PDF: Free version “Sponsored download”
PDFCreator: flagged suspicious by http://alternativeto.net/software/cutepdf/ (2013-12-13)