JuliannaSometimes I seem to do the same things over and over again. I frequently find myself awash in an ocean of information, and then I think, “GET ORGANIZED!” Here are a few good tools that are FREE, and extremely useful in my managing my daily online activities.
Password Safe
I have so many passwords to keep track of! Working in the domain industry, I have even more than ever before. I don’t want to lose any and can’t possibly remember them all, so I’ve got to have a system to keep all of them organized and safely available. Password Safe is a great tool – you can store all your usernames and passwords, along with notes if you need any, and a link to the login page. You will have one main login for Password Safe, which in turn gives you access to all the other logins you’ve stored.
I recommend backing up Password Safe on a USB flash drive, or in your web based email client, that way you can rest easy if ever your whole computer dies or something.
Password Safe – http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/
Texter
Texter is a text substitution application that was recommended to me by my colleague and it pleasantly surprised me with its utility. It allows you to define text substitution hotstrings that, when triggered, will replace hotstring with a larger piece of text. By entering your most commonly-typed snippets of text into Texter, you can save countless keystrokes in the course of the day.
I now enter all the text I find myself typing repeating throughout my day into Texter. At first I don’t think I have much to enter in it, but as I go along I use it routinely. I can enter greetings for example. For things I explain by email repeatedly, Texter is awesome. I can access Texter to copy and paste the content, but even cooler are the hotstrings. I can set a lengthy greeting with a word like ‘hello’ which becomes a hotstring. This means I just type in ‘hello’ and it gets replaces with my full greeting. What a time saver! Texter can also be stored on a USB flash drive, allowing you to take it with you.
Texter – http://lifehacker.com/238306/lifehacker-code-texter-windows
GIMP Portable
I often want to edit my photos, fix the contrast or saturation, optimize them for the web or for emailing to friends, however I don’t work in graphic design so I just can’t justify the cost of an expensive photo editor. Well, that’s fine … I have discovered GIMP!
GIMP is a FREE image editor, and there are two versions; one is portable and doesn’t even need to be installed, it can sit on your USB flash drive. GIMP is very powerful, and I think it important to share with you; even with prior Photoshop experience I was still overwhelmed by all the features of GIMP. So here is a tip: search on Google for GIMP tutorials, they are a life saver!
GIMP Portable: http://portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures/gimp_portable
GIMP Full Version): http://www.gimp.org/
Don’t forget to check out the GIMP Tutorials: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/
The above three tools have been constants in my life for years. They help me to stay organized and get things done without having to scramble around like a madman. Zen is maintained. “Ooooommmmmmm!”