Discussion on:

10 Things Call for Feedback: What's the one tool you can't live without?

I examined the tools in my tool roll and the software on my computer... all have been replaced within the last 2 years. Nothing there I couldn't live without or find another way to do. Chair, desk and PC? Nope, but I do rather like them. Service vehicle? Who really likes a Mazda pickup, much less considers it something they can't live without? Coffee cup? I have several that are interchangeable.

Then it hit me... For the last 20 or so years I have had something in my pocket everywhere I went and in every field. I have had a notebook of some kind and a Fischer Space Pen. Come to think of it, I feel naked without it, even turning around when I discover I have forgotten it.

There it is. I need a good pen, preferably a Fischer Space Pen and something to write in, which today is a moleskin notebook.

7-zip - open dang near any type of archive file

TreeSizeFree - easy to find space hogs

MSE - free antivirus by a well renown company

Though if we are stickin to tech related. DOS commands in general.

Beat me by -this- much!

Seriously, are we including browsers in this? If so, Firefox. If not, then a virtual desktop tool for Windows; say, VirtuaWin or Dexpot.

DOS commands are my friend. Some of the younger crew here have no idea how to do a lot of the command line stuff. Plus, as long as you know your DOS commands, you can write some pretty powerful little .bat files to make your life easier. I know I have about 20 that are scheduled to move files around, rename certain files, clean up directories, etc... It sure saves me a lot of time.

I miss it. You also can't Alt + Enter to full screen anymore.

What would I do without that flashing prompt? I started using computers before I had seen a mouse and this is the way I still prefer to do many things...

For me it is
- Visual Studio (Have had some version since 1998)
- DOS commands (though now I use powershell - So scratch that and make it a command line tool)
- No more EDIT so I use notepad. I like a no nonsense text editor that won't try to figure out or correct what I'm writing. Just take this text and save it thank you, I'll make sense of it myself.)
- Keboard shortcuts for just about everything in Windows, Visual Studio, Office, Media Player and other apps I use frequently. Seriously, a mouse is for drawing in paint.
- Speaking of which, Paint, I save screenshots a lot. Good job Windows 8 can now save them without the paste in paint then save step.
- Windows Live writer - for me there's been no other way to post to my blog.
- The rest of Windows Live Essentials suite while I'm at it.
- Since that little bird starting making noise, I need a dedicated twitter client. MetroTwit does that for me.

That completes my most frequenltly used tools. I didn't think Windows Media Player is a tool but it can be squeezed in there somewhere, I cannot work without music playing in the background.

Third party tools or Windows specific? I'll list both.

Windows Specific
- Event viewer. This tool has helped me out a lot, especially since I'm a early in my IT career.

Third party...sort of. The suite isn't bundled with Windows.
- sysinternals suite. So many good tools in this suite.
- CCleaner

My Swiss Army Knife. I have 14 tools on it, and at one time or another, I have used them all.

As far as techy stuff is concerned, keyboard shortcuts in MS Office apps come in handy a lot.

"ViewSourceEditor.exe"
I don't get along very well with Favorites so I tend to save web pages when I find a tip or tutor that I want to remember.
In 2007 I ran across the app above and we've been buddies ever since!
http://www.download3k.com/Web-Authoring/HTML-Editors/Download-View-Source-Editor.html
When I installed viewsourceeditor on Win7 I got a path error. I dropped it into the folder with Notepad2, my favorite HTML editor, and it's working fine!
I'd be happy to explain, discuss, ?, how to reduce a web page by 95% so you can rathole those tidbits that you know you'll forget!


Roger

Hi, everyone! Scott here -- Perhaps I should have used different wording in the Call for Feedback. In this discussion, I'm looking primarily for software tools that you can't live without. That said, now that I've seen some of the feedback, I'm going to pitch the idea of requesting feedback about actually tools/utensils (i.e. swiss army knife,notebook) that TR pros use to aid in their jobs.

So, any utility or application is fair game... browsers, text editors, etc.

Scott

...like PDFreDirect, MalwareBytes, Sysinternals' Process Explorer, TreeSize, and so on, but if I had to pick just one, it would be PuTTY.

And ditto on the Swiss Army Knife...

I'm an end user, not an IT professional... I had been using Copernic Desktop Search for YEARS and found it to be my HUGEST time saver. Moved from Windows XP to Windows 7 (bypassed Vista) and love love love the built in file search... Another great software tool I like is DuplicateCleaner (http://www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/content/index.php) for helping me EASILY keep duplicate files and pictures in check.

The first thing on a computer is Revo Uninstaller. It cleans 99% of the crap. People are amazed when they see it next to the supplied uninstaller or the Windows built it uninstaller.

Most used by me is notepad. I look up a lot of things online. My computer is filled with URLs, snippets of text and other little lists all as text. The best thing, copy a chunk from a web page, paste into notepad, copy and paste into word. Bye bye crazy web formatting.

1. victorinox: the best one is cybertool 29, but any could do
2. portable apps on usb
3. a linux distro live on usb: I usually use ubuntu, but others may be equivalent

Evernote, followed closely by Dropbox, then Notepad ++.

Yes, I'd be irritated at having to live without Revo, FreeCommander (or something similar), CCleaner, MBAM and a number of others. But what would really give me grief, trouble and send me screaming into the night would be living without Roboform. Not only does it enable me to have different good strong passwords all over the place wthout the impossible task of remembering them all, but I also use it for bookmarks - so it doesn't matter which browser I use, or where I am, I have all my favourites.

I run SpinRite on any new computer to break it in. I run it regularly on old computers to keep the harddrive in good working order. I run it on dead computers to bring them back to life.

Also, I need Chrome and the LastPass extension. I can cloud-print, sync all my devices, access all my bookmarks, and all my passwords securely.

I also use the Google Authenticator App on my phone, which gives me 2 step authentication into Google and LastPass (which uses it as well).

I have many other programs that I won't live without, like TrueCrypt, but don't use everyday.

I definitely could not live without the free version of SyncBack, to keep everything backed up/synchronised to my external drives! It's so easy to configure and use and unlike some free synchronisers, it automatically displays all your sync pairs alphabetically, in a neat list. So if you add a new pair, it automatically sorts them into the list. Fantastic program!

It's not a great tool, but what makes my computer mine. My theme started out as the Science fiction theme Microsoft put out for Windows 98 with a blank screen saver and a picture of the Krell energy creature attacking the ship from Forbidden Planet for my desktop. As I said, nothing great, but you know that's my computer.

Thats all I need to say.

Always a pleasure to use. Now even more relevant with cloud.

if i have to choose between thees and only one: Notepad ++

http://www.editplus.com/, Been using it for years, love it, usually the first thing I install. Then FireFox w/SpeedDial, Irfanview, CutePDF, ExamDiff, Esker's SmarTerm Office, ...

Definitely DOS commands for me. The power that this puts back into the hands of the user is great and has saved me a lot of time through the years.

VI (ducks the incoming barrage).

There is one program that has followed me from Windows to Linux and on every machine I have... Filezilla has been my FTP client of choice for many, many moons.

Hyena from SystemTools - great for AD work.
&
The Sysinternals suite.

RoboForm Portable.
I use it so often it seems like part of the OS.
Just used it to log in here.

For me ... Second Copy, FileZilla, DropBox, Coffee Cup HTML Editor ...

Hacker's keyboard. I do 99% of my work on a tablet (with no physical keyboard, because I'm a rebel) this keyboard is a godsend for soft keyboard typing. Have it on my tablet and phone.

NT

I have used many over time, but as long as I have a tool to open plain text files (even if its Notepad), I can get through the day pretty well.

Does anyone else carry a User Alignment Tool?

Mine's a big wooden mallet.

toss up: TED notebook and WinZip.

WinZip, WinGrep, TextPad, and Password Safe. I've had these on my computer for don't know how many years.

Almost forgot: Araxis Merge

Process Explorer!

Hammers solve all problems - just depends on your perspective of 'solve'.

file compression..a useful function.

The one essential is a computer that can run Windows and Mac OS and is light in weight and has instant-on capability. Also something that I can actually take meeting notes on, with a keyboard (not glass). I must admit to taking a mouse, the power supply, the DVD drive and the dongle to allow use with a projector. (I don't think I've ever used the DVD drive for work, but I haul it around just in case.) To put this in perspective, I used a Lisa (Apple's Mac predecessor) in a store, and have had a Mac since 1985 and this is about the most perfect computer I've ever owned.
The only negatives are the cost, the non-replaceable battery, a fussy touch pad and the limited storage.
BTW, If you talk to Don Norman (human interface guru and Apple alumnus), he'll diss the iPad in favor of the Air on the basis of the keyboard. (At least he did the last time I talked with him.)
But if you want a Swiss Army knife of a tech tool, the MacBook Air is it.

Three tools that I always keep (even tho' I don't use frequently) are:
1. Teraterm Pro (neat, dependable terminal emulator with excellent logging)
2. IrfanView (great, fast graphics viewer with some good basic editing)
3. SolarWinds Subnet Calculator (QED)

Yeah, OK OK. That's three tools and you only asked for one. Just take your pick and don't flame me. hehehe

My Leatherman multitool and a pen. I have had these on my person for the last 15 years and I can't see myself going to work without them.

The Clipping Tool in Windows 7 Accesories is great for capturing stuff from the screen and the internet. I use it in all the teaching notes I produce.

I would say the NAT Router is one of the house's and small office's most needed tools today. The thing lets you share an internet connection with several devices, and at the same time, it helps many people unknowingly put up a simple firewall protection.

Think, how many people typing in here are using a NAT Router right now?

Skype changed my life. I use it every day and am still amazed that such a powerful application is free/cheap to use!
It's all about communication: Living far away from my family, I use it to see and speak to my loved ones. Working for a performance management software that is sold world wide I use it to talk to clients, give demos and support. Social media has changed our every day life and with so many new contacts from all around the world that are hard to meet in person, Skype is the next best thing to strengthen the relationships. I love it!

is a spreadsheet program/app. Currently Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheet.

In the DOS days I used Stereo Shell.

There was also a commercial product that worked about the same, but once I had Stereo Shell I never went back.

A good Windows two-window file manager is Free Commander. I use it for moving files around, renaming files, etc. It can do much more than I use it for, too. About the only time I use Windows Explorer is when all I want to do is open a file.

The only shareware that I ever thought paying for (and I did).
Savard Software's "TurboLaunch".
A quick launch / icon organizer for the Windows desktop that I have been using since Windows 3.1
Regular updates (free).
Simply removes desktop clutter.

Currently the one of the tools I always use is Irfanview. Not for graphics manipulation per se, but a great viewer nonetheless.

The one tool I cant live without is......my brain. Not a joke. There are so many things we do as IT on a daily basis, that we can do with our eyes closed. There are things we can do with any number of tools (ie software etc..) its merely a matter of choice.

To be able to logically think through a situation, logically attack an issue under pressure, that's what often times makes the difference.

How many situations have you been in where you have come across a tough problem, and you have to take a step back and say "alright, lets think this through" and then WHAM here comes the solution?

1 Tool. Brain. The software is what you use to execute. The Brain is where you memorized the process

SciTE4AutoIt3 for a full package, or just SciTE if you don't need all the extras.

askSam, the text database,has been accumulating info for me for 15 years now is simple, fast and moves from computer to computer (difficult to convince friends of that, though). Can't imagine living without it. Single most valuable/indispensable program. And why were you dissing Wordperfect in the article (as in, an example of an indispensable program USED to be Wordperfect ) - I'm at X4 now and it's still so much better than MS Word ('cept for graphics)?

Awesome HEX editor, Great for pattern matching, works great on large files. Nice way of monitoring Windows logs live without access violations, very versatile.

I use Win 7 now.
- jetToolBar(still use it - I do some adjustment to windows border just for it to nicely attached at top) - Plain(not fancy) and simple interface..
- IrfanView (Use it from version 3.6 till now :D) - So many improvement make it my ideal 'tools' for not-so-simple graphic stuff..

I'm a game dev (primarily). So there are alot of essentials but if I had to pick one general "I Need This" It would probably be Visual C#. Even though I use MonoDevelop for most of my Game Code, Anytime I need to write a custom app or tool to make life developing my games easier, I use C#. I've done everything from making standalone Save Game Editors, To Leaf Texture Generation. Its not even limited to game development. I wrote a simple server monitor program to help me control the server by sending commands to it. (Like shutdown, Process start and close etc). So yeah, Overall it'd be C#.

This is my all in one prep tool. With it, I can virtualize anything from my choice of PDF reader to the full Office suite, and carry it all on a thumb drive. An 8Gb thumb drive can host almost every software tool you can think of, including a virtualized (and thus sandboxed from a potentially infected system) web browser. Best of all, it's free.

Currently we have about 300+ XP pc's used in our Telco switching environment (soon to be phased out), and due to the technical aspect, they are not on AD. I cannot live without these tools and DOS commands for doing jobs remotely! Excellent tools which have saved time over and over again! I've used the "FOR" loop so many times over the years, it's like second nature. Excellent for looping through a text file containing the host names to "do stuff" with pstools like psexec, psshutdown, pslist, etc..
KP