I have recently installed Windows 7 on mine development laptop and I really like it. It’s so much better than Vista. After a clean install of Windows 7, I install the following applications I always use.
Standard application and tools
Opera
My main web browser, although Chrome almost made me change. Biggest issue with Chrome is not saving the zoom level I set it to. Try watching websites on 1920×1200 on 100%.
Live Writer
Fantastic tool for writing and posting blog posts.
Live Messenger
Instant messaging application for private use. All my friends use it and I can also use it my Xbox360.
Skype
Instant messaging application for work. Skype just works, even behind a proxy, and is not targeted towards teenagers only.
Blu
A beautiful Twitter desktop client, written in WFP.
Windows 7 codec pack (from Shark007)
A simple playback pack for Windows with the goal of supporting the majority of video formats in use today.
Office Ultimate 2007 (Commercial)
Contains all the office tools I need, except Visio. Never used Groove, because I don’t understand the product completely and I think I don’t need it. Also installed the Office Proofing Tools Kit 2007 for Dutch spelling.
Office Visio Professional 2007 (Commercial)
The program to build diagrams and plans. Lately however I’m using PowerPoint more and more for this. It just looks better in PowerPoint.
LinkedIn Outlook Toolbar
Syncs my LinkedIn contacts with my Outlook contacts, including the pictures. Outlook syncs with my mobile, so now I can see who calls me ;o). Also the creation of contacts from a signature is a great feature.
Dynamics CRM 4.0 for Outlook
Provides integration and offline features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 within Outlook. It also works with Outlook 2010 using a workaround.
Acrobat Reader
The reader for PDF files. Large in size for only a reader, but it’s the original and I don’t have troubles with it.
Avira Anti Virus (Commercial, Free version available)
Lightweight, non invasive, reliable anti virus software. The free version only shows an ad when it updates, which is often, but you can set it to once a week. With a simple trick the ad can be removed.
7-Zip
Superior compression program. Also supports zip, iso, gz and all other popular formats. Used WinRAR before, but 7-Zip just compresses better.
Virtual CloneDrive
Allows mounting of ISO and other formats that contain copies of DVDs and CDs. I burn maybe once a year a CD or DVD, so don’t need advanced tools for this: Windows 7 will do fine.
Paint.NET
Great graphics manipulation tool that is easy to use, and powerful.
Notepad++
Full featured text editor with many available plug ins. Replacement for notepad.
uTorrent
Lightweight, spyware free bit torrent application.
Grabit
A simple newsreader that automatically repairs and extracts downloaded binaries.
Visual Subst
Visual tool for setting up drive mappings to folders.
WinDirStat
Fantastic utility that graphically shows hard disk usage. Not just a pie chart, but a true graphical representation of your hard disk.
Fences
Fences is a one-of-a-kind program, allowing you to draw labeled shaded areas on your desktop, which become movable & resizable containers for your desktop icons. These groups can help bring organization and consistency to your computer’s desktop, solving the "constant mess" problem that has plagued the desktop since its inception.
Process Explorer
Task manager on steroids. It’s belongs to the Sysinternals Suite, which has more great tools.
Virtual PC Beta
For running Virtual PC’s under Windows 7.
CCleaner
I think one of the best programs to clean your machine. From folders, registry to start-up programs. Is in beta for Windows 7, but so far no problems wit it.
Auslogics Disk Defrag
Defragmentation of your hard drive visually.
DropBox
For folder syncing and sharing. Very easy to share a file and someone a link to it. Used Live Mesh Beta before, but it does more than I need. It’s still a interesting product to keep an eye on.
FileZilla
FTP program. Supports SFTP and parallel downloading of files.
SharedView
Connect with up to 15 people in different locations and get your point across by showing them what’s on your screen. Share, review, and update documents with multiple people in real time. A Windows Live ID (Passport, Hotmail, or MSN) is required to start sessions, but not to join sessions.
Cisco VPN Client
The VPN client most of my customer use.
Developer application and tools
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition (Commercial)
Some of my customers are still working with this edition, so I have to install it. I use a minimal install and then use Windows Update to install SP1 and SP1 Vista.
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition (Commercial)
Still working with SSAS, SSIS and SSRS 2005 for customer so I need the tools for it, but not the database server (I can use 2008 for that). Only installing the Workstation components, Books Online and development tools. After installing, run Windows Update to get SP3.
Visual Studio 2008 Team Edition (Commercial)
The application for most of mine coding. I don’t install Team Database Edition and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition.
SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition
Complete install. After installing, run Windows Update to get SP1.
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition GDR R2
Database development with source control, database compare, generating change scripts? Use this Visual Studio edition!
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Explorer
Tools for connection to Team Foundation Server.
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server Power Tools
Enhancements, tools and command line utilities when using Team Foundation Server.
Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1
SP1 for Visual Studio 2008. Team Explorer must be installed first!
ASP.NET MVC 1.0
An alternative option for ASP.NET Webforms. A Model-View-Controller framework build upon ASP.NET 3.5.
Silverlight 3 Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1
Add-on for Visual Studio 2008 for developing Silverlight 3 applications.
Expression Studio 3 (Commercial)
Professional design toolkit, that contains Expression Blend 3, Expression Web 3, Expression Design 3, Expression Encoder3 and SketchFlow.
Sharepoint Designer 2007
Almost the same as Expression Web, but this version can connect with SharePoint websites and can build SharePoint workflows.
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: SDK
Contains conceptual overviews, programming tasks, samples, and references to guide you in developing solutions based on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
Stylecop
Analyzes C# source code to enforce the coding guidelines used by Microsoft.
CodeRush with Refactor! Pro (commercial)
A Visual Studio plug-in that lets you program faster.
GhostDoc
Automatically generates XML documentation comments for methods and properties based on their type, parameters, name, and other contextual information. Great tool!
BIDS Helper
A Visual Studio add-in with features that extend and enhance the functionality of the SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 BI Development Studio (BIDS).
AnkSVN
Subversion Source Control Provider for Visual Studio. The software allows you to perform the most common Subversion operations directly from inside the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE.
Tortoise SVN
The best standalone Subversion client there is. It is implemented as a Windows shell extension, which makes it integrate seamlessly into the Windows explorer.
IIS7 (Commercial)
Windows 7 comes with IIS7, which is great for local testing. Don’t forget to install it with IIS6 compatible for applications and tools that depend on the IIS6 API.
Enterprise Architect 7.5 (Commercial)
A comprehensive UML analysis and design tool, covering software development from requirements gathering, through to the analysis stages, design models, testing and maintenance.
MDX Studio
MDX Studio is tool which helps users of Microsoft Analysis Services to analyze complex MDX expressions, monitor performance characteristics of MDX queries and get insight into how MDX interacts with other UDM features such as attribute relationships. MDX Studio provides unique visualization representation of MDX expression and allows the user to interact with different stages of MDX execution.
OLAP HeartBeat
Activity monitor for Analysis Services server.
Chrome and Firefox
IE8 is already installed with Windows 7 and Opera is my default browser, so to get a complete set of the most used browser today, I installed these two for testing purposes.
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