I’m a big fan of having the right tools for the job and I wanted to take a moment to share what I have in my toolbox. Like every tool we use, it has to be comfortable and it has to be used as intended. the tools I use may or may not work for you.
When I installed Windows 7 on my laptop a few weeks ago, I added a lot of my software back on and omitted the ones I thought were no longer needed. It was a fresh start not unlike cleaning out your closet. Keep what you use, discard what you won’t. The first thing I installed was my favorite browser, Firefox. I cannot stand Internet Explorer and it’s limitations. With Firefox, I can extend and add tools to make my browsing experience functional.
Other tools I added and use frequently:
- Adobe Air
- Adobe Lightroom
- Adobe Photoshop
- Auslogics Disk Defrag (much faster than Windows)
- AVG Free 9 (no worries here when used w/ Firefox)
- Camtasia Studio – a video capture tool
- Carbonite – unlimited file backup for $50 a year
- CCleaner – crap cleaner
- DisplayFusion – great for multiple monitors
- Dropbox – great backup tool
- Evernote – unbeatable note taker
- FeedDemon – how I get my daily news feeds
- Foxit Reader – Lighter, faster than Adobe’s .pdf reader
- ImgBurn – flawless, fast disc burner
- iTunes – needed for the iPods
- Microsoft Office 2007
- Pidgin – all purpose IM chat client
- Revo Uninstaller – use this instead of Windows’ own
- Skype make calls/chat for free!
- SnagIt – screen capture tool
- Songbird – iTunes killer
- Soonr Desktop – access files away from home
- TweetDeck – Used for my Twitter/Facebook updates
- VLC Media Player – plays all file formats
- Xobni social tool for MS Outlook contacts
See something you’d like and use? You are more than welcome to borrow from my list and use for yourself. In fact, I insist. What tools do you use that you’d be willing to share with?
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