The Digital Toolbox

They Say Size Doesn't Matter

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:

  1. Adobe Air
  2. Adobe Lightroom
  3. Adobe Photoshop
  4. Auslogics Disk Defrag (much faster than Windows)
  5. AVG Free 9 (no worries here when used w/ Firefox)
  6. Camtasia Studio – a video capture tool
  7. Carbonite – unlimited file backup for $50 a year
  8. CCleaner – crap cleaner
  9. DisplayFusion – great for multiple monitors
  10.   Dropbox – great backup tool
  11. Evernote – unbeatable note taker
  12. FeedDemon – how I get my daily news feeds
  13. Foxit Reader – Lighter, faster than Adobe’s .pdf reader
  14.   ImgBurn – flawless, fast disc burner
  15. iTunes – needed for the iPods
  16. Microsoft Office 2007
  17. Pidgin – all purpose IM chat client
  18. Revo Uninstaller – use this instead of Windows’ own
  19. Skype make calls/chat for free!
  20. SnagIt – screen capture tool
  21. Songbird – iTunes killer
  22.   Soonr Desktop – access files away from home
  23.   TweetDeck – Used for my Twitter/Facebook updates
  24.   VLC Media Player – plays all file formats
  25.   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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