My Favorite Software

Bob's Favorite Software Tools

These are some of my favorite software applications. I run on multiple operating system platforms, so I've indicated which ones run on Windows, Mac and Linux systems. Most are free to download, so check them out and give yourself a productivity boost!

• FireFox - my web browser of choice. Widely touted as more secure and flexible than Internet Explorer, the free and open-source Firefox browser also has a vibrant user community creating fun and useful add-ons. (Runs on Windows, Mac and Linux computers.)
• GMail - my favorite email client. This free web-based email service lets me check my email from any computer with an internet connection. With a traditional email client like Outlook or Thunderbird, you're tied to one computer where all your mail is sent and received. I even access my Gmail account from my Voyager cell phone. (Runs on Windows, Mac and Linux computers.)
• NoteTab - a text editor that I use all the time, is a drop-in replacement for the rather limited NOTEPAD editor that comes with Windows. NoteTab can handle plain text, and is also an HTML editor. The tabbed interface lets you open multiple files, and you can create macros to speed up your work. NoteTab Light is free, but you can upgrade to the Std or Pro versions to get additional features like a thesaurus, spell checker and programming tools. Mac users will find similar features in the BBEdit text editor.
• LogMeIn - remote control of your computer over the Internet. Lets you remotely login to your home or office computer using a web browser. View the desktop, launch programs, open files or play a game, just like you were sitting in front of the remote computer. I use this to access my home computer when I'm travelling and also to do remote tech support on occasion. LogMein is secure and for my needs, the free version does everything that GotoMyPC ($20/month) does. (Windows or Mac)
• Calc - Good old Calc, the built-in Windows calculator. It doesn't do any fancy stuff like sines and cosines, but it sure can add, subtract, multiply and divide. Come to think of it, Calc looks a lot like the Bowmar Brain my brother had back in the 70's.
• PuTTY - a secure open-source telnet client. I use this free program to remotely login to Linux-based web hosting accounts when I need root access to a server. Comes in handy when you need to fiddle with the webserver config file, set up cron jobs, or install new software on the server. I used to use Secure NetTerm, which has some nice additional features, but costs $70.
• PaintShop Pro - is sometimes called the poor man's Photoshop, but PaintShop Pro for Windows is actually a full-featured photo/graphics editor with many advanced image manipulation features. And at around $49, the price is ten times less than Adobe Photoshop CS3. Adobe Photoshop Elements is a lower-cost slimmed down version of Photoshop, and is available for both Windows and Mac systems. I should also mention IrfanView for Windows, which is a nifty freeware graphics editor for basic tasks like cropping, resizing and converting from one format to another.
• Acronis TrueImage - an automated backup solution that I use to make nightly backups of my hard drive to an external hard drive. You can do full or incremental backups, and the software makes it easy to restore a single file from the backup image, or do a full restore if necessary. You can download a free trial version or purchase Acronis TrueImage for $49. Mac users, check out Retrospect for top-notch backup software.
• iTunes - a free digital music manager and jukebox for Windows or Mac users. I find it handy for importing CDs, and keeping my music collection organized. The iTunes store offers music downloads for 99 cents, which I think is a great alternative to buying a whole CD to get that one song you like.
• Audacity - free, open source software for audio recording and editing. I like Audacity because it can record live audio, from a mic or anything that's being played through your sound card. You can edit, splice or mix sounds together, and save in a variety of audio formats. Audacity is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
• RoboForm - remembers all your passwords and automatically fills in web forms for you. This is a huge time saver, and eliminates the need to scribble passwords on a piece of paper. The free version of RoboForm (Windows only) is limited to 10 saved passwords, and the Pro version ($30) is unlimited. I have not been able to find a comparable password utility for Mac, but browsers that run on Mac OS X, such as Firefox and Safari, do have some rudimentary password management support built in.
• X-RayPC - a powerful diagnostic tool for Windows machines, which I use in addition to anti-virus and anti-spyware scanners, to help identify malware or questionable files. X-RayPC shows you EVERY process that's running on your machine, as well as startup programs, browser helper objects (BHOs), toolbars and downloaded program files. The built-in expert system gives you a Good, Bad or Undetermined rating for each, and shows the name of the software developer so you can decide whether to keep or delete an item.
• Foxit Reader - a free PDF document viewer that loads fast and is quick to download at only 2.5MB. (By comparison Adobe Reader is a 20MB download.) I like Foxit because it's fast and doesn't clog up system memory after you close the program. (Windows only)
• SpeedFan is a nifty freebie utility that displays the temperature at which your CPU and hard drives are running, and can adjust fan speeds to cool down overheating components. Heat is an enemy of electronic components, and can cause myterious shutdowns, restarts and other problems. (Windows only)
• Google Desktop - makes searching your computer as easy as searching the web. Google Desktop continually indexes your files and their contents, so you can quickly find a file that contains a certain word or phrase -- a very handy freebie for Windows, Mac and Linux computers.

Do you have a favorite software tool or productivity booster? Share the goods! Post a comment below...