In most instances, I prefer using freeware or opensource software and try to post those most often. Sometimes a commercial product is necessary in which case I may or may not list it. If I do list a commercial/shareware title, then I’ll try to list a favorite freeware title as well.
OS X:
Without a doubt, DiskWarrior is an irreplacable tool for disk repair concerning volumes, file permissions, etc. It does not do file recovery or physical disk testing.
For data recovery, check out Data Rescue II. It is capable of doing a pretty thorough drive scan and recovery items even the drive has been reformatted or re-partitioned so long as a zero-out erase hasn’t been done.
..and a smattering of utils:
- DoubleCommand: Keyboard Remapping (great for pc users) - http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/
- SuperDuper! (commercial): Drive cloning/backup - http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
Free alternative: Carbon Copy Cloner – http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html - Secrets: Hidden system settings - http://secrets.blacktree.com/
- StartupSound: Change the volume of your macs bootup – http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~arcana/index.en.html
- Skim: PDF Reader with notes – http://skim-app.sourceforge.net/
PC:
- Fineprint: Print driver that acts as a front-end. Allows multi-page printing to a single page, double sided printing, watermarks, preview, booklet printing, etc. – Also check out PDF Factory (both are shareware) – http://www.fineprint.com/
- PDF Creator: Create PDF’s via printing – http://www.pdfforge.org/products/pdfcreator/
- WinHTTrack: Website copier – view webpages offline. – http://www.httrack.com
- PhraseExpress: Boilerplates, autocorrection, etc. – http://www.phraseexpress.com
- Paint.net: http://www.getpaint.net When I’m not using photoshop or Photoshop Elements or when I need something at work, I’ll often use this. It’s quite a step up from MS Paint and is based on the dot net framework. Microsoft also has their free ‘Live’ tools which includes a movie creator and other lower-end but useful items. Also see my Photo Editing and Sharing preferences listed below.
Other Favorites:
I use Firefox and Thunderbird almost religiously. Some of my standard plugins are:
Firefox-
- AIOS (All in One Sidebar) – http://firefox.exxile.net/aios/index.php
- AdBlock Plus – http://adblockplus.org
- Morning Coffee – http://www.shaneliesegang.com/projects/coffee.php
- Web Developer – http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/
- Gmarks (Google Bookmarks) – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2888
- Tab Mix Plus – http://tmp.garyr.net/
- IE Tab (pc only) – http://ietab.mozdev.org/
Thunderbird-
- Signature Switch – http://mozext.achimonline.de/
- TagZilla – http://tagzilla.mozdev.org/
- Nested Quote Remover – http://mozext.achimonline.de/
- Lightning (Calendar) – http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/
- and the GDATA Providor for hooking up to Google Calendar.- https://wiki.mozilla.org/Calendar:GDATA_Provider
IM/Chat
These are multiple protocol based and have direct support or plugin capabilty for Google Talk, AIM & Facebook.
- OSX: Adium – http://www.adiumx.com/
- PC: Pidgin – http://www.pidgin.im/
Photo Editing/Sharing:
- Picasa - Good organizer. Also allows you to upload to Picasa Web Albums (a part of Google)
- Flickr – Great photo sharing site allows for public, private and semi-private photo storage. There are many social sites such as Facebook that have plugins to show and link photos from your Flickr site
- Photoshop.com – Online editing and organizer
- Picnik.com – Online Editing. Capable of editing your photos on FaceBook, MySpace, Webshots, Picasa Web Albums and others as well as from your own system.
Networking:
- PacketTrap 360 (admin) – http://www.packettrap.com/product/pt360_free.aspx
- Spiceworks (network admin & asset mgmt) – http://www.spiceworks.com
- Traffix (for osX) bandwidth monitor – http://www.thotzy.com/THOTZY/Thotz/Entries/2008/10/26_TraffiX_2.0_%E2%80%94_Watch_your_Gigs._Better..html
