my recommended software for mining is cgminer / bfgminer . optimal setup , depends on the cards... bfgminer will tell you when there is hardware errors which is good for finding optimal intensity. If you prefer cgminer but dont know your proper tuning for your card, try bfgminer, tune so you dont get hardware errors and fastest hashrate. u can then use those settings with cgminer... both nice because usage commands are about the same so you can change back and forth easily for testing.
oh, and always use stratum mining... cgminer + stratum = smooth mining
my fastcoin pool, stratum only
http://75.134.182.16:10502/