Your Favorite Useful Computer Stuff

[Msterbeau]

Software, hardware... Tell us about the computer related stuff that makes you life easier/better/more fun.

For artists... I don't know how anyone can do without a Wacom tablet. I have a large one but you can get them for under $100. In addition to allowing you to draw far better than with a mouse, they can be used alleviate cramps and pains from using a mouse too much. Say good bye to RSI!!

[Kit Kat P]

a mouse, I have had mine eaten and tabbing away sucks

[Msterbeau]

I use Firefox at home and work. I use Foxmarks to sync my bookmarks between them. No more worrying about if I have a link at home or work!!

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

A fast thumb drive with lots of space and U3 software. It's like having a pc in your pocket.

[SuZQZ]

Definitely a large capacity thumb drive. Also, my IDE/SATA to USB adapter is pretty handy for rescuing data from hard drives. Makes life soooo much easier.

[Kit Kat P]

scanner/printer oh the manipulations

[nilhil_glory]

i <3 My asus mb with my badass case that lights up blue and i hooked a light in the front that pulsates to bass....and i love newegg for making me a nerd 10 times more than what i already was

[Hellion]

I use Firefox at home and work. I use Foxmarks to sync my bookmarks between them. No more worrying about if I have a link at home or work!!

Fire Fox rules!

Have not used IE in such a long time.and never will.LOL!!

[odims_sphere]

A 1gb SCSI harddrive. They fit perfectly in our K2000's

[Troy Spiral (13)]

- Tabbed web browsing. (IE or Firefox) Having mutiple pages/sites open all in the same browser much easier on the computer. Setting mutliple homepages to multiple tabs saves me tons of time)

- WinDirStat (visual tool for showing you where your hard drive space is being used)

- Photoshop

- Paint (for quick small edits , faster than using PS)

- SmartFTP (free FTP utility)

- AVG (free anti-virus software)

- Google Toolbar (spellchecker primairly)

- uTorrent (file sharing)

- Limewire (file sharing)

- DVDFab (amazingly slap your head simple DVD decode/encode/shrinker)

- www.cnet.com (loads of useful computer info / reviews / downloads etc)

- AdAware / Spyware Doctor

- Infranview (cheap / simple / free picture viewer)

- Notepad

- Diskeeper (fast defrag / HD managment tool)

- "All in one" Cannon Fax/Printer/Copier

[Head Wreck]

minature mouse. an IBM tactile keyboard (new keyboards dont have the satisfying click as these did, plus thier heavy enough to be used in defence if the zombies tried escaping through the monitor again

[Kit Kat P]

- Tabbed web browsing. (IE or Firefox) Having mutiple pages/sites open all in the same browser much easier on the computer. Setting mutliple homepages to multiple tabs saves me tons of time)

- WinDirStat (visual tool for showing you where your hard drive space is being used)

- Photoshop

- Paint (for quick small edits , faster than using PS)

- SmartFTP (free FTP utility)

- AVG (free anti-virus software)

- Google Toolbar (spellchecker primairly)

- uTorrent (file sharing)

- Limewire (file sharing)

- DVDFab (amazingly slap your head simple DVD decode/encode/shrinker)

- www.cnet.com (loads of useful computer info / reviews / downloads etc)

- AdAware / Spyware Doctor

- Infranview (cheap / simple / free picture viewer)

- Notepad

- Diskeeper (fast defrag / HD managment tool)

- "All in one" Cannon Fax/Printer/Copier

I think our computers would get along, play date?

[Head Wreck]

i'm using paint.net more and more these days. loving it

[Dubh Aingeal]

Keynote

U3 Drive with a great many diffrent utilities on it.

Of course I very rarely go anywhere without a Ultimate Boot CD.

[Fierce Critter]

"Wacom tablet"

Please let me know more about this.

Is it a stylus?

I REALLY need a stylus type "thingie" for more accurate & detailed work in Photoshop.

[Fierce Critter]

Nevermind. I checked out Wacom's website.

They're recommending an Intuos tablet at $329!!!

But I checked eBay. I think I'll be purchasing one from there when finances allow.

Which one do you use, Marc?

[Msterbeau]

Nevermind. I checked out Wacom's website.

They're recommending an Intuos tablet at $329!!!

But I checked eBay. I think I'll be purchasing one from there when finances allow.

Which one do you use, Marc?

I have an older 18x24 Intuos model. Surplus from a former employer. I had a 4x6 Graphire too but that disappeared. At work I use the 12x19 Intuos 3. Very nice. :-)

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I think our computers would get along, play date?

Ok but my computer likes to jump in the balls at McDonalds. We need to find one that has those.

"Wacom tablet"

Please let me know more about this.

Is it a stylus?

I REALLY need a stylus type "thingie" for more accurate & detailed work in Photoshop.

Not that you needed this addtional info since you did your homework but Wacom is sort of the gold standard of pressure-sensitive tablets. When i was into such things i had a , what was at the time a $800 tablet. Sold it on ebay after the GF died though (and along with that most of my artistic asperations)

[pomba gira]

FIRE FUCKIN' FOX!!! Tabbed browsing & endless useful add-ons

TinyURL.com- really handy for sharing URLs via IM

Trillian- adds a lot of functionality to YM and esp. AIM

CCleaner

A nail file for cleaning crumbs & cat fur out of the keyboard

PictureIt- way more limited than PhotoShop- but I never could make head nor tail out of PhotoShop.

CNet.com- I never buy electronics gear without checking reviews here. Also good help & downloads.

[Scary Guy]

- SmartFTP (free FTP utility)

- Google Toolbar (spellchecker primairly)

Filezilla is completely free/open source http://filezilla.sf.net

Firefox comes with a built in spell check now too.

Pidgin.im > Trillian by 10,000

My banzi USB SD card reader (that thing around my neck)

http://www.betanews.com

http://www.wallwatcher.com

http://downloads.guru3d.com

http://www.noaa.gov (weather direct from the source)

Having 3 monitors instead of just one (with ultramon and multires installed).

Cable internet with VOIP is nice too.

Using a DJ mixer for easy sound control between it and other audio devices I have.

A minifridge within easy reach.

I don't have it yet but http://www.crazypc.com/products/8177.html (lighter with cup holder insert).

Adblock Plus for Firefox.

http://www.poptray.org

[Dubh Aingeal]

Meebo is an in-browser instant messaging program which supports multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ, and Jabber.

[Fierce Critter]

Photoshop - I LOVE PHOTOSHOP

Pagemaker - I don't use it anymore. But it's how I started in Desktop Publishing, and freed me from a life of clerical boredom.

CorelDraw - Just by accident that I use Corel instead of the much more wildly popular Illustrator.

My cordless mouse & keyboard - freedom, baby!

Digital Camera - without it, I wouldn't have 1/100th the pictures I do.

Jardinains - bouncing those little mutherfuckers around is a massive stress reliever.

Nextel Motorola data cable - saved me from a life of "Girls just wanna have fun" and "Cops theme" ringtones

My Roland micro monitors

Cubase - and a host of VST's

Webcams - that enabled me and Jon to see each other while he was up here establishing job/home and I was stuck down in NC for 3 weeks.

The internet - which kept me somewhat sane while in NC for 3.5 years

[Scales]

Notepad/Wordpad - comes with most versions of windows, and great for me because I write compulsively.

Limewire/Ares - P2P Clients

Azureus - Bittorrent Client

Mozilla Firefox

Photoshop

FL Studio - I would switch to Cubase or something better.. but I'm addicted and in love with FL. I go on FL just about every day (have been for half a year now) and always have more then one project I'm working on. Once I switch jobs I plan on buying the newest version. I also have a huge amount of VST's, p.m. me if you wanna swap copies b/c I'm always on the lookout for good ones, I have some I think might interest other musicians as much as they have with me.

[Daniel]

I have found loads of cool stuff through this blog:

http://www.ruletheweb.net/my_weblog/

It is run by one of the guys from Boing Boing and is very well put together, and highly informative. I am often shocked by some of the clever stuff they find and post.

[DarkVampire]

Dreamweaver. Best WYSIWYG HTML editor ever.

All of my games.

Game modding tools.

Firefox, Opera, and Netscape. Tab browsing is the best thing to happen to web browsers.

Media Player to play all of my CDs.

WordXP. I use it to write my poems and stories.

ZoneAlarm