- See also: The Naughty List
Here are a few examples of software and products I use and can recommend you do, too.
PRTG Network Monitor
If you are responsible for a network of more than a few computers, even at home, this is the best way of keeping an eye on them.
I use it for monitoring the amount of network traffic passing by my router, what computers and services are operating (or not), and whether they are behaving out of the ordinary (there’s an ‘unusual’ setting which points out stuff you may not have noticed). The integration with notification services like email and growl make it irreplaceable.
Site: www.paessler.com
Awayfind
This service exists to stop you checking your email 20 times (or more) a day, by allowing you to customise certain alerts for highly important emails, and have the important stuff come to you, as it happens. It has more options than your usual, blunt ‘You Have Mail’ alerts – I have it set up to alert me when team members or my manager emails me, when certain words like ‘URGENT’ are in the title, or (this is the sexiest bit) when I have a meeting with someone within the next few hours and they send me an email, either with new information, or a cancellation. Very cool.
Site: awayfind.com
Belvedere
This tool does a great job of automating any file transfers you need to perform on a regular basis: moving incoming files to a documents folder, or archiving anything that has been hanging around on your desktop or download directory for more than a few weeks.
The latest revision also integrates with Growl for Windows, another great application, so you know what it’s doing (and know that it’s not going mad and deleting everything!)
Site: http://lifehacker.com/belvedere
iPhone/iPod Apps:
- Evernote – a digital scrapbook – I like it for collecting all the crap I see while surfing (Web also)
- Boxcar – a great app for bringing all your various app notifications into one place
- Goodreader – all my study notes in one place, marked up and searchable, synced with Dropbox. Beautiful.
- Remember The Milk – a to-do list that follows you everywhere (Web also)
- Skype – VOIP means never having to pay Telstra any money any more
- Sleep Cycle – monitors your sleeping habits, and wakes you up when it’s best to wake you
- Springpad – another digital scrapbook – I like it for making lists (Web also)
- Pocket – an easy way to postpone those long articles for later (Web also)
- Shopper – the best shopping list since the Palm’s HandyShopper (I miss my HandyShopper)
- MindJet – Mindmapping at its best
BONWAG 