Informed Networker Blog

There are a lot of software applications on my computer, but I decided to pick ten applications that would be of interest to the IT Professional community. Hope you find them as useful as I do:

1. FileZilla - An open source FTP client that has been around forever. Recently released its 3.0 version. Cross-platform, easy to use, and free. There is also a sibling product that acts as a FTP server for those interested in hosting their own FTP.
2. Paint.NET - Originally a simple replacement for Microsoft’s built-in Paint application, which remains nearly as simple as it was when first designed so many years ago, it has progressed to the point where it can replace many commercial graphics and image editing applications for the less artistically talented. Also open source and free.
3. Wireshark - Formerly known as Ethereal, it is a sweet packet capture and analysis application that also happens to be free and open source. If you want to understand how TCP/IP protocols work, here is the place to start. Very useful when troubleshooting network performance and stability issues.
4. Wakoopa - A very little web 2.0 application. Download it and run it. It keeps track of the applications you use, allowing you to see just how much time you are spending in your various applications. Its free, not open source.
5. VMWare Server - Allows you to run other OS’es on your local machine. Great if you want to try out (insert name of OS here) on your current machine but don’t want to reformat or do a dual boot.
6. OpenOffice.Org - A free and open source office suite that includes word processing, presentations, spreadsheet, database, and drawing software. A real competitor to Microsoft Office.
7. WinDirStat - Couldn’t live without this simple application that graphically maps the utilization of your hard drive. Allows you to quickly find those files that are hogging up all your space.
8. Auslogics Disk Defrag - While there are many defragmenters on the market, this is a free and a new one. It does a nice job, is fast, and is regularly updated.
9. CrossLoop - A nice GUI overlayed over the excellent open source VNC software. Allows you to get remote access over (name of family member/friend)’s computer without jumping through hoops or trying to translate technospeak into real english.
10. FeedReader - A free RSS reader. If you don’t utilize RSS feeds - you should! Most popular sites now have RSS feeds which notify you when new content has arrived. Maximize your productivity.
11. Firefox - The web browser that single-handedly challenged Microsoft’s dominance of the internet browser market, rowsing the behemoth from its sleep to put forth another spawn - Internet Explorer 7. Firefox is an innovative, open source, and free browser based on the old Netscape browser, but now nearly entirely new. It features a number of revolutionary features including tabbed browsing, a rabidly popular extension infrastructure, and an avid fan base.
12. Thunderbird - Lesser-known but still high quality is Firefox’s little sibling, Thunderbird. Thunderbird is an email client that offers a solid communications experience. It is a bit weak in the anti-spam department and can’t yet compete head-on with the full features of Microsoft Outlook in the arena of contact and calendar management, but its a great and free alternative for those who are looking to keep it cheap.
13. Skype - Revolutionizing the way we communicate, Skype brings VoIP to the masses. Bought out by eBay one can have confidence that the company will be around for years into the future. Skype allows you to make unlimited nationwide calls for less than $100 year. Watch those old copper phone lines fade away and experience the great features of VoIP.
14. Win32Pad - A very small notepad replacement. Its not meant to be a full-featured IDE that can write code in five minutes but it is an essential application if you are still using NotePad. Amongst its most significant features are line numbering, the ability to spawn new instances, minimize to tray, and bookmarking capabilities.
15. 4t Tray Minimizer Free - If you are like me you can fill up your taskbar in no time at all. Its not that you are actually utilizing all the applications all the time - but you don’t want to close them out either, as you might just need that email app, web browser, or word processor in a minute or two. For applications that don’t include the ability to minimize as an icon in your systray there is TrayIt.
16. AIM Pro - AOL can’t seem to do anything right these days - except for AIM Pro. AIM Pro offers business professionals advanced IM communications for free. Need secure communications? No problem. Records of your chats? On top of it. Multiple guests in a simple chat room on the fly? Got it. The ability to remote into another computer using WebEx for free? Yup.
17. Safari - Apple decided to make their browser cross-platform. While I still prefer Firefox, Safari is a good option especially if you want to test what your website is going to look like on a Mac in Safari.
18. Opera - Another minority browser. Again, useful for performing testing of how your website displays in different browsers. An innovative application in its own right which used to cost, but now is free. While it has many excellent features it seems unable to market itself in such a way as distracts the audience currently enamored with Firefox.

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