Windows7 Applications I Need

I believe the applications/software I have installed in my Windows 7 ‘work’ laptop increases my productivity. I have just captured the same here for both cataloging for future purpose as well as sharing to the extended communities. There is no particular order to this. I prefer a certain style to my desktop and would strive to achieve that in all my windows powered machines. Also there are a certain tools/apps I would like to have always in my system:

Productivity Applications

1. Evernote: Notes on the cloud is something I use extensively. All my personal notes & sometimes blog articles are scripted in this first.
   1. Other options. One Note – Yet to evaluate this option thoroughly but have been reading a lot of good reviews. I am planning to move my work related notes/articles into this. [Update: OneNote is awesome for work related notes because of the MS Office like formatting capability. Additionally it links awesome with the MS Outlook esp the Meeting details.]
2. Jing: Required for quickly taking snapshot of the desktop. The left ‘Ctrl + J’ key works magic. It is quite quick & very useful esp to add markers to the snapshots.
3. ScreenRecorder: Required for making a video recording of the actions on desktop. Useful when I have to create video demos.
4. Windows Live Writer: I am an avid blogger! (Duh!!) So need a desktop WYSIWYG tool & so far WLW seems awesome.
5. [Update] Browser Chooser 2: I prefer to use different browsers for work (off late, FF) and personal (Chrome). This becomes the default browser and every time you click a link you get an option to choose between the browsers, which has saved me so much time.

Cloud Applications

1. Dropbox by Dropbox
2. Google Drive by Google
3. Box by Box
4. One Drive by Microsoft
5. Copy by Barracuda
6. iCloud by Apple

Development

1. Oracle Virtual Box: Free! Easy & at least as good as VMWare Workstation. And, I can get my share folder working “easily” compared to VMWare Workstation.
   1. Other options. VMWare Workstation – I prefer the “free” Virtual box version. Perhaps later I shall write my experiences with VB compared to VMWorkstation.
2. vim: My favorite go-to editor for code. I am more comfortable with vim than GUI editors. Personal preference!
   1. Other options. Emacs – If you are an Emacs guy. I used to be.
3. PuTTY: Nothing beats this low-footprint SSH client. I love it from bottom of my heart.
4. WinSCP: I would prefer if this is a tad fast but works perfectly for me. Another of the development tool I can’t be without.
5. DiffMerge: A beauty when comes to code comparison. Addicted to this over all the other options.
   1. Other options. WinMerge – Yet to evaluate this.
6. TortoiseSVN:  Was skeptical of using a SVN client on Windows for a long time until I tried this. TortoiseSVN is a master piece.
7. GitHub:  For no computer geek is satisfied without an account of their pet projects in GitHub!
8. WireShark: Off late I am cross verifying my network a tad too much. Of course, my work area is on the same line adds to my woes.

Alternates

1. Alternate for IE: Google Chrome – Need I say more. (Added a few extensions I use regularly)
   1. Other options. Firefox – I played a bit with Firefox but FF has lost its mojo! It seem super bloated on the memory department!
2. Alternate for Adobe PDF Reader: Foxit Reader – Better PDF reader or so I have heard. Just started using & already feels good!
3. Alternate for Notepad: Notepad++ – Man! This app has improved so much over the years, I stopped using Notepad even for quick notes. Also now they have a nice feature of auto-save without saving into an actual file!! (Added a few plugins I use regularly)
4. Alternate for DiskCleanup: CCleaner
5. Alternate for Windows Media Player: VLC
6. Alternate for Zip: 7-Zip
   1. Other options. WinRAR

Photography

1. PIXResizer: Required to quickly resize pictures to a specific size; also multiple batch resizes
2. Alternate for Windows Photo Viewer: IrfanView – A much better Photo viewer
3. Alternate for Photo Gallery: Adobe Bridge

Security

1. LastPass: Password manager

Miscellaneous

1. Launchy: For lack of better desktop search. I definitely miss google desktop. [Update: Boy! oh Boy! This is so bloated! Takes all my CPU! This is off my list.]
2. Free Download Manager: The speed this app brings to my downloads is tremendous.
3. Skype: Kinda mandatory these days!

Desktop Customization

1. Rainmeter: Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I have the following skins & layouts to handle most of my scenarios
   1. Avengers Skin
   2. Laptop Only layout
   3. 2 screen layout
2. Taskbar Customization (http://www.howtogeek.com/172466/10-ways-you-can-customize-your-windows-taskbar/)
   1. Use small icons
   2. Hide all icons except ‘volume & network’ in the ‘notification area’
   3. Enable Autohide (because of Rainmeter desktop)
   4. How to change the windows explorer startup folder

Thus ends my current requirements on tools/apps to make my Windows PC ready for work!

Appendix A1: Google Chrome Extensions

1. FoxTab: For quick tabs on frequently browsed sites.
2. LastPass
3. OneTab: For storing all the tabs just before saving.
4. Adblock Plus
5. Klout: For social media ratings.
6. VNC Viewer for Google Chrome: Found this better & sufficient than desktop versions.

Appendix A2: Notepad++ Plugins

Generic

1. DSpellCheck
2. Explorer
3. Python Script
4. TextFX Characters

Development

1. CCompletion
2. Code alignment
3. Compare
4. Task List
5. Tortoise SVN

Web Development

1. HTML Tag
2. JSLint
3. JSON Viewer
4. JSTool
5. NppExport
6. NppFTP
7. Tidy2

Hope somebody out there benefits from a quick look into this post!