My List of Tools I Cannot Live Without

togakangaroo — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:47:06 +0000

This one goes out to…me. I’ve recently spent a lot of time setting up new workstations and am soon going to be spending a lot more. This post is a rundown of all the tools and litter helper apps that I absolutely positively cannot live without. Are there some gems in here that you would like? Probably. But mostly this one is for my own sake.

Launchy - Simple, fast, open source application launcher
- Launchy Plugin – Ty to post to twitter from Krzysztof Ko?mic
- Launchy Plugin – GCaly to post to your Google Calendar
ClipX - Tiny little clipboard history manager. I use this one about 70 times each day
WinSplit Revolution – Awesome utility to throw applications between dual monitors and tile them easily
Deskpins - A simple utility to force windows to stay on top. Not the love of my life, but the best that I’ve found since xNeat went for-pay
Firefox - With the firebug and Web Developer plugins. I really only use it for debugging pages and playing with javascript. This is mostly because I use
Chrome - Web browser. It just feels faster, ok? Oh and the too many tabs extension.
EditPad Pro – Great notepad utility. Has an unlimited trial version, and I’ve had a license for it for years. I might give Notepad2 a try, but I doubt I’ll make the jump.
jZip - Open source zip utility. Handles all the stuff that Winzip and WinRar do with less whining.
TortoiseSVN - Windows Explorer – Integrated SVN source control. As I use git more and more for personal projects I’m starting to regret how heavyweight the integration is though, might try something new next time.
MSysGit - While we’re on the subject.
Fiddler2 - Http viewer, debugger. Don’t use it too much but its handy to have around.
IE 8 Developer Toolbar – Its actually quite good
GIMP - I ain’t a fancy-nancy designer and I’m not paying for Photoshop.
Paint.NET – When I want to draw stuff but don’t want something as heavyweight as GIMP
Inkscape - For working with svg images. I use it surprisingly often
WinMerge - Great little application for comparing two files/directories/whatever
Console2 - Could never really get it to work better than the powershell default but it deserves another shot
Powershell – Are you a developer on windows and don’t use this? You need to be punched in the face (or at least have you mouse stole).
AutoHotKey – For scripting windows
- AutoHotKey Script – BDD names from JP Boodoohoo. I had made some customizations to it but they were lost with the lastdisk crash. Oh well
Gallio Icarus – Sometimes you just want a stand-alone test runner GUI and this is the best
Putty - For SSHing
TweakUI – For Windows XP. Hopefully that’s a game I won’t have to play for much longer
Reflector - Must have for .NET development
Jing - Oh I love this. The best for quick screen captures (though it would be nice if it had a lighter memoery footprint).
FileZilla Client – Ftp I usually do with windows explorer (you knew it could do that, right?) but SFTP we need to bring in the pros
Ruby – I’m going to try just running IronRuby next time, I swear.
SQLite.NET – Tends to come up sooner or later, good for quick free file-based database
KeePass – I keep all my passwords in here – shh don’t tell anybody
Growl for Windows – I wrote a friggin’ log4net Growl Appender, obviously I want something to read it.
Synergy – To share mouse and keyboard with multiple computers
Visual Studio – duh, but also the following plugins/extensions
- TestDriven.NET – can’t live without youuuuu
- T4 Toolbox – gotta have it since I like Sharp Architecture so much
- ASP MVC – nuff said
- ZenCoding – I haven’t had a chance to use it yet but I really can’t wait till I do
- Refactor Pro and CodeRush – It’s a love affair, though I just picked up a ReSharper license at the last VAN so I guess I should compare and contrast or something
  - CR_ClassCleaner Plugin for DxCore
Microsoft Live Meeting – For the virtual alt net sessions
Skype
Dropbox
SharpDevelop - I got to get into using this interesting IDE more
RubyMine – Great for ruby, and I have a license!
VLC Media Player – Way more lightweight feeling than the others and plays anything

NOthingyoumissed » tools

My List of Tools I Cannot Live Without