dah328
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2003
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For those of us that spend altogether too much time in front of a computer, what general applications (we all know that Matlab is great for number-crunching, etc.) have you found that have most improved your personal productivity or increased your ability to work? Over the years, I've picked up some great suggestions from other people, so I thought I'd list mine (no affiliation to any of them):
- Gmail - It goes nearly without saying, but Gmail's super fast and comprehensive search is better than almost anything else out there. The ability to access your email through POP or IMAP means you are not stuck using their interface if you don't like it.
- LogMeIn remote desktop access - The free version of their software is more than adequate for most Windows users. For *nix users who don't mind a little more technical configuration, substitute VNC. Being able to access my main workstation from any network connection has been very helpful when needing that one document I forgot or kicking off long-running tasks remotely.
- DynDNS - redirects domain names requests to dynamic IP addresses. Pairs well with VNC for home broadband networks where the IP address may change.
- Windows Live Sync - The ability to have certain folders seamlessly synchronized across multiple computers is great. It serves as both a poor man's backup system and a way to ensure that work done on a laptop or second PC is always available on one's main workstation.
- Cobian Backup - Backups don't make anyone any more productive until you lose a hard drive. They can be a pain to set up, but Cobian makes it easy to schedule unattended backups to a variety of different media.
- Google Reader - If you read blogs, this is probably the easiest RSS reader to set up.
- Google Calendar - One of the easiest calendars to share among multiple people.
- Mint.com - A very low-effort way of tracking and categorizing personal expenses after the fact. Provides rudimentary budgeting capabilities.
- Mvelopes.com - A full-featured, moderate-effort budgeting system. Costs a little bit per month, but well worth it if you need to carefully adhere to a budget or manage a shared budget.
- BaseCampHQ.com - A simple project management app with a clean interface. Free version is fairly limited, though.
- Emailias.com - Create any number of disposable email addresses to use for different websites. Automatically forward to your personal email address and replies are automatically converted back to use your disposable address. If you start receiving spam or unwanted email at any of the disposable addresses, simply discard it. Costs a few dollars per month, but very worth it if you hate spam.