x64 essential software

[Midas]

One of the first things one is usually compelled to get on a freshly installed system is some sort of PDF viewer. I'm partial to PDF-Xchange Viewer, which is a x64 native portable viewer, fast and extremely well rounded feature wise; but you can't beat Sumatra PDF for sheer single executable simplicity.

Now, it gets even better -- x64 pre-release builds (currently v2.2.6650) of Sumatra PDF Opt[mized!] can be downloaded from http://nikkhokkho.sourceforge.net/stati ... atraPDFOpt.

@lautrepay: Thanks for the tip, it's good to know that, especially since XnViewMP is designed from the ground up to be multiplatform.

[Midas]

Another common priority is usually to get an archive manager; here are my current favorite two, both issuing from the far East:

• HaoZip

http://www.haozip.com/Eng/index_en.htm
Although not currenty portable, HaoZip is a great free x64 alternative for the likes of Winzip or WinRAR.

• Bandizip

http://www.bandicam.com/bandizip/
This archive manager is not as polished as HaoZip; OTOH, Bandizip is fully portable and has been winning accolades for its compression capacity (check the following topic for more info: http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/ ... hp?t=13385).

[lautrepay]

http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=32

A rather well-known utility, this task manager replacement doesn't really need much introduction or praise. Two observations, though: it saves settings to the registry (a small issue for a permanent guest); the single x32 and x64 executable spawns the x64 version upon execution (you might want to copy/rename the x64 version for direct execution).

Another option is Process Hacker, a great task manager (natively portable, and stealth with a little tweak).
Both 32-bit and 64-bit are included in the downloadable ZIP package.

[lautrepay]

With regard to video players, and in addition to SMPlayer and SMPlayer2, PotPlayer (Softpedia link) and MPC-BE (courtesy of SYSTEM) offer 64-bit versions with the possibility to make them portables.
In the case of PotPlayer, uniextract the installer and create two files named PotPlayer64.ini and PotPlayerMini64.ini next to the executables. Launch PotPlayerMini64.exe.

[Midas]

Great tips, lautrepay. Thanks.

[freakazoid]

A recent change of laptop caused me to move to a x64 OS (Windows XP Pro x64 SP2). As a side effect, my long used portables suddenly became non-native code. For a significant number of them, that meant nothing, as they kept running as well as before. But I felt compelled to at least make sure there were no hidden shortcomings, which launched me into a wild goose chase to find x64 equivalents of the software I had grown accustomed to and used forever...

Am in a similar situation.

This is where PortableApps.com excels; they keep both copies of the 32-bit and 64-bit programs and launches whichever version of the app based on the OS. However, I'm still a bit stubborn to use a wrapper, so I'm on the hunt for my 64-bit counterparts as well!

Here are a list of apps that I've upgraded to 64-bit so far, which are in TPFC:
- AkelPad
- Blank And Secure
- CCleaner
- CPU-Z
- Miranda IM
- MPC-HomeCinema
- Opera
- Pale Moon
- PeaZip
- Recuva
- Peerblock
- SearchMyFiles

One thing to note is the portable versions of PDF XChange Viewer and Bandizip as listed on their respective websites use 32-bit.

[joby_toss]

I use PDF XChange Viewer portable x64. I extract the necessary files from the installer.

[I am Baas]

I use PDF XChange Viewer portable x64. I extract the necessary files from the installer.

http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/ ... 992#p25992

[Midas]

DIPS64 (Desktop Item Position Saver 64-bit edition)

In one of the first posts in this topic, I mentioned a rather good utility to enforce desktop icon arrangement; nonetheless, I have grown over-accustomed to the old 'layout.dll' way (right click recycle bin, save/restore desktop layout) I have used forever on previous iterations of Windows -- and thought forever gone in Windows x64.

Turns out, I was wrong: Serge Baranov of aimp-tools.net (author of the essential Clocksync utility for rooted Android devices) did compile a native version back in 2007; only, he tucked it away in his site, without even giving it a proper webpage. A minor shortcoming of his version -- appart from not being portable, but we're talking about a shell extension here -- is that you have to shift-right-click the desktop to get it in context menu. Anyway, here's the pointer:

• • http://amip.tools-for.net/files/dips64/
  • 

  Similar tools will not work on 64-bit systems unless recompiled because of using DLL injection and 32-bit DLL cannot be injected into 64-bit process.

  • EDIT: there's an interesting write-up by a developer about this issue at http://www.boredomsoft.org/strmext.dll- ... windows.bs...