Thanksgiving Apps Special

Taking a cue from Lifehacker’s list I have pulled together a quick list of applications that I use often for which I am thankful.

Yeah, I know being thankful for a program is cheesy but these programs make my life easier and give me more time in the day.

                             ,+*^^*+___+++_
                        ,*^^^^              )
                     _+*                     ^**+_
                   +^       _ _++*+_+++_,         )
       _+^^*+_    (     ,+*^ ^          +_        )
      {       )  (    ,(    ,_+--+--,      ^)      ^
     { (@)    } f   ,(  ,+-^ __*_*_  ^^_   ^       )
    {:;-/    (_+*-+^^^^^+*+*<_ _++_)_    )    )      /
   ( /  (    (        ,___    ^*+_+* )   <    <      
    U _/     )    *--<  ) ^-----++__)   )    )       )
     (      )  _(^)^^))  )  )^^^^^))^*+/    /       /
   (      /  (_))_^)) )  )  ))^^^^^))^^^)__/     +^^
  (     ,/    (^))^))  )  ) ))^^^^^^^))^^)       _)
   *+__+*       (_))^)  ) ) ))^^^^^^))^^^^^)____*^
                _)^)_)) ))^^^^^^^^^^))^^^^)
    (_             ^__^^^^^^^^^^^^))^^^^^^^)
      ^___            ^__^^^^^^))^^^^^^^^)\
           ^^^^^uuu/^^uuu/^^^^^^^^^^^
              ___) >____) >___   ^______)
             ^^^//\_^^//\_^       ^(___)
               ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^

Internet Browsing

Firefox – powerful internet browsing.

Firefox Addons:

• Firebug – change HTML and CSS with live preview.
• Colorzilla – sample colors on a page and get hex colors.
• Fireshot – take screenshots of web pages.
• SEOtoolbar – great SEO tools, track ranking, PageRank, links…
• Delicious – social bookmarking and tagging of sites you find.
• Window Resizer – see how a site looks in different browser sizes. 
• StumbleUpon – discover new sites in topics you like.
• FoxyTunes – control music player from the browser.

Google Chrome – fast becoming my favorite browser.

Google Reader – best feed reader for all my RSS feeds.

AdBlock Plus – ads were yesterday.

Communication

Gmail – best way to handle the loads of email I wade through.

Skype – great way to communicate.

Trillian Astra  – Keeps all my chat accounts in one client.

Google Calendar – keeps my schedule straight.

Applications

Microsoft Office (2010 beta) – only one on this list that isn’t free. Specifically I am a fan of OneNote, Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Window’s Live Writer – great tool for blogging. Easily add pictures and preview.

Notepad++ – Notepad on steroids. Syntax highlighting, tabs…

FileZilla – powerfully lightweight FTP program.

Texter – text replacement on the fly. Saves much time.

Ditto – clipboard history that allows you to re-paste past items.

Computer Utilities

TeraCopy – move large files and queue up files to be moved.

7-Zip – un-zip, zip, compress, and archive files.

Font Xplorer – preview fonts on your computer even if they aren’t installed.

Launchy  – lightning fast way to launch programs.

Dropbox – keep important files constantly backed up and accessible online.

Ultramon – control multiple monitors. Extend taskbar, easy window moving.

CCleaner – clean up temporary files.

Defraggler – defragmentation to keep your hard drive efficient.

SpyBot Search & Destroy – annihilate spyware on your computer.

Media

VLC – zippy little program to watch videos.

Winamp – keeps the tunes organized and accessible.

Audacity – splice and dice audio files.

ImgBurn – burn CDs and DVDs.

µTorrent – download torrent files.

Any of your favorites I need to check out?