Change Log
2024-09-12
Added honorable mentions to MacTeX and Tectonic.
Moved up Openshot as my preferred video editor over Shotcut, which I haven’t been using for a while due to several limitations.
Dropped FontBase from my list because basic features are now subscription-only.
2024-07-24
Moved this whole site to Github. It’s written in Markdown and then procesed with pandoc. Source is here.
2024-07-23
Added Angry IP Scanner, which has become my go-to port scanner on all platforms.
Moved KiCad up to my primary schematic/circuit design program. I have been reaching for it first for a while.
Added Amphetamine. Not sure how I took so long to add this one.
Added Tot.
Added Boop. I’m starting to use it more.
Added Warp terminal.
Added Zed. It’s actually usable now.
Added RawTherapee as an alternative to darktable.
2023-08-28
Added Jellyfin after using it along side Plex for some time now.
Added PDFgear as it quickly moved to my tool of choice.
Added Electorrent. It’s pretty.
Added Maccy as I found myself using it exclusively whenever I’m on Mac.
Added System Color Picker. Handy.
2023-08-15
After testing out new software for a while, I’m making a bunch of edits:
Added Transnomino for a Mac file renamer after using it for a while.
Added Hyperkey for Mac. I found myself using it everyday.
Added DuckDuckGo browser and removed Brave.
Added an AI generation section with Draw Things, Diffusion Bee, and ComfyUI.
Added notes about VS Code Insiders and web edition.
Vectornator is renamed Curve.
Added Friendly Streaming.
2022-12-10
Added Latest. I’ve been using it on Mac, and it is pretty convenient.
2022-11-09
Added OmniDriveSweeper.
2022-11-01
Added Kodi and PDFsam Basic.
2022-10-25
Added MonitorControl, FBReader, and FontBase.
2022-10-16
Keka is a great compression tool for Mac, and I find myself reaching for it more, so I’m adding it here.
2022-10-13
Added MusicBrainz Picard. I needed to clean up a bunch of mp3s on my Mac, and this did the job way better than the alternatives.
2022-10-08
I’m recommending Ardour for Linux users now.
Added LimeChat for a Mac IRC client.
Added Permanent Eraser for Mac.
2022-09-21
Finally decided to just make this a list for Windows, Mac, and Linux software as opposed to just Windows. It turns out about 80% (or more?) of my apps were cross-platform anyway, so it isn’t much harder to throw in my favorite Mac and Linux apps too.
2022-09-18
Simplenote is now my preferred text-based note-taking app, edging out Obsidian, which is still a worthy runner=up.
2022-03-06
I added WinMerge back on as an alternative to Meld. I still like Meld better overall, but WinMerge shines in some tasks.
2022-03-01
I added TinyCAD after using it enough to find it useful in certain circumstances.
2022-02-22
I’ve used LibreCAD for a couple projects and it’s earned a spot on my list. It’s definitely useful for a certain domain of projects.
2022-02-14
DocFetcher is now my local file search solution of choice. The file content indexing pushes it ahead of Everything, and FileSeek got kicked to the reject pile.
Created a CSV category under the STEM section, and added Miller and Tad to it. Both are super handy.
2022-01-29
Finally added winget, scoop, and Patch My PC, which I’ve been using for a while now to great success. Sorry Chocolatey!
Also added Git Extensions.
2021-12-20
Added Tabby as a second option under Windows Terminal. It’s a great app.
Expanded the recommendation for Transmission.
Added OBS Studio.
2021-10-01
Windows Terminal dethroned ConEmu for my choice of terminal software. I just like it better now. It’s simple but still has a robust feature set.
2021-09-18
Added Chrome Remote Desktop for a remote access solution. Its really simple and requires none of the configuration headaches that come along with VNC.
2021-09-17
Added Obsidian under note-taking. I’ve been trying it out for a while, and it definitely does a lot right.
2021-07-11
Added Waveform Free as an option for a DAW, and mentioned Ardour while I was at it.
2021-07-05
I switched my VNC pick back to UltraVNC. I had dabbled with TigerVNC for a while because it felt a little more lightweight, but UltraVNC is just better for my use cases.
2021-06-29
Added a mention of Pluto alongside Jupyter.
Updated ConEmu website link.
2021-06-15
Migrated site from Wordpress to a simpler system. Now I’m just using pandoc to process Markdown files to HTML, and I’m just hand tweaking some CSS and HTML templates.
2021-04-21
Added Ventoy. It’s a handy tool that was not on my radar until recently.
Also added a note to the ShareX entry that it can do screen capture. I’ve been using that feature and it’s worth the download just for that alone.
2021-03-11
Added Microsoft Powertoys and the Sysinternals utilities suites. I have used both of these for probably close to two decades, and they are super handy. I’m surprised I haven’t added them sooner.
Added micro in the text editor section. That’s a really cool up-and-comer in the text editor field. People just aren’t learning vi and emacs anymore (or not like they used to anyway), so I could see micro becoming the de facto standard editor on Linux someday. A newbie could open it an do useful things. It will likely eclipse nano quickly.
2021-02-28
Added CopyQ. I’ve been trying some clipboard managers, most notably Ditto and CopyQ. I had several bugs and issues with Ditto, and CopyQ worked out of the box, so it gets the win.
Added Ninite as an alternative to Chocolatey. I’ve used Ninite for years longer than Chocolatey, and I still use it for niche cases, so it deserves a mention.
Added ProduKey. I’ve used it a number of times over the years and it’s a lifesaver.
2021-02-20
Added Mp3tag. It used to be on the list, but through disuse, I dropped it. After needing it again for a big music reorganization project, I figured I’d put it back on the list. It’s useful.
2021-02-10
Initial version of the website at https://www.blakesessentials.com. I maintained my Essentials list over at my personal website for over 15 years, and I decided to move it to its own domain and convert it to WordPress mostly just for fun.