I spend more time on my computer(s) than anywhere else, and I have found some very useful tools that I thought I’d tell you about. All of them are free or have free versions, and all of them work in Windows.
Everything – I am starting with this one because it’s both my newest discovery of this list, and it’s one that I use dozens of times every day. This is a very simple program; it only does one thing: find every file on your computer that has the text you’re looking for in the filename. If you’ve named your files well, you can dispense with searching through your folders most of the time. I love this program.
Quick Access Popup – this tool comes in second place, both in terms of recent discovery and level of value. Once you set up the folders you navigate to most frequently, it takes a couple of keystrokes to open any folder. I have a keyboard with extra buttons, and so I set one of them up to open this program. Then I type the number/letter and I no longer have to hunt through levels of nested folders. You can also use it to open files or programs directly, but I haven’t done much with that yet.
Todoist – this is another recent discovery. The program itself is pretty buggy, but it has done this for me: given me an easy way to keep myself accountable for tasks I want to do daily or weekly. I do not use this for my project list, but for little tasks I want to make sure to do regularly, this does the trick. (I started using it as a way to keep track of memorized Bible chapters I wanted to review at various intervals, and that is still my primary use.)
AutoHotkey – I’ve been using this one for a number of years, and it’s a helpful time-saver. I use it for quickly opening programs and for a word with a frequently used sentence or website. I’ve used it for more complex multi-step repetitive tasks in the past as well.
Anki – every day this little spaced-repetition app helps me not forget what it’s important to me. You set up the flash cards, and you use them every day, and this app does the rest of the work. (One of my daily entries in Todoist is “Anki.”)
Notetab Light – I use this basic text editor as much as I use Word. It’s quick and easy for short notes, maintaining a to do list, etc. I share this file with my office computer (via Dropbox), and it’s the main way I communicate with my home-self and office-self every day. I like the tabbed interface too.
Open Live Writer – that’s what I am using to write this blog post, and all of my blog posts.
Irfanview – I might as well end this list with the app I’ve used the longest but which I still consider indispensable. For photo viewing, this is my default app, as it opens quickly and works fast.
That’s the list I intended to write. I use other programs, some extensively, but they are well enough known that I don’t feel that it would be so beneficial to mention. But in case you are wondering, that list includes MS Office, Logos, Lightroom, Filezilla, OneDrive, EndNote, Google Earth Pro, and yes, Bookshelf 2000.