Jeff's Ultimate Tool List

I'm just going through the process of reinstalling windows to fix a visual studio problem that I can't seem to work around.  As I'm reinstalling my favorite applications, I figured this would be a good opportunity to write them down.

Jeff's list of can't-function-without apps

AutoHotKey - Allows me to remap keystrokes and create handy macros.  My all-time favorite is my development signature, mapped to ~ (JVD 2011-03-20)


AxCrypt - Simple encryption program that allows me to safeguard my private documents.

Chrome - It just feels like a better browser than IE.  The integration of Google Docs, calendar and gmail are excellent, and I like the chrome extensions a lot more than the IE or Firefox counterparts.

Foxit Reader - Fast unobtrusive replacement for the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

NotePad++ - Notepad++ is just a really good notepad replacement.  It has excellent macro support, is unobtrusive, customizable and supports a long list of add-ons.

Microsoft Security Essentials - Simple free Virus/Malware protection.  It's given me a little grief on older PCs lately, but it's mostly painless and works great.

Paint.Net - Freeware easy-to-use graphics editing software.

Peazip - Freeware compression utility.  It's a little obtrusive if you don't take out all the send-to functionality on startup.  I don't love the program, but it saves me from needing a WinZip or WinRar.

PDF Creator: - Lets me create PDFs by printing.  This replaced CutePDFWriter for me because it allows me to batch print jobs together into a single PDF.  That's very handy when I have 4 images I want to write to a single PDF.

SetPoint - I like to remap my side mouse keys to CTRL and ALT.  That gives me easy access to the modifiers without taking my hand off the mouse.  SetPoint lets me do this for the Logitech mouse.

TeamViewer - Free (for personal use) remote control software that works well both over the internet and on the local network.  

Utorrent - Torrents.

Windows Virtual PC - Virtualization is incredibly handy for a number of reasons.  I prefer to use Windows Virtual PC over VMWare simply because it runs better on Windows.  I can't quantify it, but VMWare always felt clunky.  Window Virtual PC feels like a very natural integration into the windows environment.

WindowSpace - This is more-or-less a beefed up version of the Windows 7 snap functionality.  It lets me snap to other windows, snap to top, bottom and corners.  It's also got a long list of keyboard hooks which lets me move my windows around without touching the mouse.  It's not freeware, but well worth the $20 IMO.

WinDirStat - Shows you what's eating up all the space on your hard-drives.  Invaluable when you need to clean up.