Embedded Files
Web Browsers
By far and away the best browser available. At first blush, the basic browser might not seem so extraordinary. However, the real value lies in the vast selection of available add-ons, both functional extensions and decorative themes. Firefox is also available for Linux and Mac OS X as well as for Windows.
There are literally hundreds if not thousands of add-ons available, but to get you started, here are a few of my favorites in (mostly) alphabetical order:
Very handy to use on web sites where Firefox does not work. Can emulate Internet Explorer (IE). Firefox and Opera combined should eliminate the need for IE altogether. Opera, too, is available in both Linux and Mac OS X flavors.
A marvelous e-mail package that should free anyone from the tyranny of Outlook and Outlook Express. Add-ons (functional extensions and decorative themes) are available for Thunderbird much like Firefox, although they are fewer in number for Thunderbird. Also like Firefox, Thunderbird is available for Linux and Mac OS X as well as Windows.
Here are a few Thunderbird extensions that I find particularly useful:
If you are plagued by spam that gets by your ISP provider's spam filters, this open source program is absolutely indispensable. Its filter rules incorporate the extremely powerful feature called regular expressions. It can also delete spam from your ISP's server without ever downloading the spam to your own pc. It also comes with a nicely-done, easy-to-understand yet very informative help file.
File Transfers
FileZilla File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
Another excellent open source program. Allows file transfers to and from secure ftp servers. The Firefox add-on called "FireFTP" is decent, but this FileZilla is easier to use and contains more robust features. Furthermore, FileZilla is also available in Linux and Mac OS X in addition to Windows.
Yet another excellent open source program. Allows batch downloading of large quantities of files with wild cards standing in for systematically named files. Its value has been diminished somewhat by my discovery of the Firefox extensions "DownThemAll" and "BatchDownload" but it is still a useful arrow to have in your quiver—especially if you do not use Firefox. (But everyone should be using Firefox by now, right?)
Suites
After years of devotion to Mozilla's Firefox web browser, Thunderbird email program, and Sunbird scheduler, I am at a total loss to explain why I never tried SeaMonkey until now. What a colossal oversight on my part. SeaMonkey is a fabulous suite of programs consisting of its own web browser, email program plus address book, ChatZilla on-line chat, and Composer html text editor all under one umbrella.
The browser and email programs are not quite as robust and configurable as Firefox and Thunderbird. For example, SeaMonkey's browser does not accommodate RSS feeds like Firefox does, and many of my favorite Firefox add-ons do not work in SeaMonkey. I have become dependent on many of those missing Firefox (and Thunderbird) add-ons, so I am not about to abandon either of those two programs any time soon. Even so, SeaMonkey's components are very impressive in their own right, and some Firefox add-ons do work in SeaMonkey.
SeaMonkey by itself is a solid package of web browser and email/address book. During installation, SeaMonkey offered to import my Thunderbird email (including filters) and addresses as well as my Outlook Express addresses, and the process worked flawlessly. On the other hand, I did have to manually export my Firefox bookmarks to an external html file to import them into SeaMonkey's browser, but that was a relatively easy process that also worked without a hitch.
But it was my need for an html editor that led me to try SeaMonkey in the first place. I have not been satisfied with any of the html editors I have tried to date, but SeaMonkey's nifty Composer html editor is almost exactly what I have been looking for: a happy combination of powerful features coupled with intuitive ease of use. It has three tabbed windows: one to insert some essential html tags (tables, lists, paragraph indentations, font formats, etc.); a second to view and edit the actual html code; and a third preview tab that displays the result as it will appear in a web browser. Very nice indeed.
In retrospect, if I had encountered SeaMonkey first, I suspect that I would have been sufficiently pleased that I probably would never have sought out Firefox or Thunderbird. SeaMonkey is a small but superb collection of splendid programs all in one remarkable package. Where have I been all this time???
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