10 Fav Apps That Get Things Done

People struggle with computers everyday as they contend with the unnatural, non-intuitive ways that they have to learn and get used to, just to get the simplest of tasks done. Most people are actually ok with just learning enough about the applications that they use on a regular basis to get by with minimal screaming and frustrations. Few ever venture into the brave world of becoming “experts” at say, Outlook or any of those horrible but ever-necessary Microsoft Office products.

As you can see from the hump in the diagram above, most users settle just being un-newbie-ish, in terms of computer proficiency. If they can just get common tasks done, they rarely look for faster ways to do the same thing. This is not true for people who spend extended amounts of time, doing repetitive chores, or using the same app over and over again everyday.

I spend more time than I would like to ever admit, basking in the gentle glow of my radioactive monitor, typing as fast as I can with two fingers. I am a usability and interface snob. I hate using the mouse, and instead look for “accelerators” to get things done. The less menus that stand between me and the task that I want to do, the better. Hence it is only fitting that I share a few apps that help me get things done a bit faster, more efficiently and are the cause for the smallest of celebrations. So here is my top 10 list of apps, big and small (only 2 pay cost money), that help me get stuff done everyday:

1. Firefox: Not much to say, chances are you know about this killer browser and your IT people at work are stubbornly trying to NOT install it, but Firefox is awesome with it’s tabbed goodness and especially powerful with all the add-ons that make it so much more compelling as an alternative to the problematic IE7. (del.icio.us, better gmail, dragdropupload, auto copy are my current faves. If you are Ok with more memory hogging add-ons, you can get weather updates or control itunes as well). (Free)
2. AutoHotKey: Not a lot of people probably know about this little gem, but imagine having a global spellcheck across EVERY application, being able to set little type shortcuts so that typing like “GD” automatically become “Gagan Diesh” or “jchk” becomes “Just checking into to get a status update on” (the project manager side of me uses that sentence a lot to start email conversations). (Free)
3. ToDoList: Love this app for the fact that it does just one thing. Keeps tabs on what the heck I am spending my time on. Really useful for billing and not a memory hog like beat applications such as QuickBooks. Can also be used as the name suggests to create to-do lists that can be exported out into other apps, but I use iGoogle for that (see next). (Free)
4. iGoogle: Not really an app but a collection of widgets that you can download to create your own personalized Google homepage. Yes, I sold my soul to Google a while ago. Now I happily allow it to serve up latest headlines, to-do lists, an ambient clock and calendar and emails to my homepage every day, all the time. (Free).
5. Google Desktop: Talking about privacy, I don’t allow Google Desktop to connect online to bring web content to my desktop. What I do end up using it for all the time is a fast app launcher. Just press Control twice, type in the first few characters of your app, press enter, and voila, your app is launched. Beats using the point, click, cascading nightmare that is “start” menu. QuickSilver on the Mac side does the same thing for me, and will probably be bought by Apple given that it makes the OS much better with it’s features. (Free)
6. MWSnap: All design geeks pay attention, everyone else look away? A freeware app to take screenshots. Let’s you take pics of portions of your screen, add mouse pointers and copy the image to your clipboard. Magic when you are writing a 60 page usability review and have to take screencaps of various horrible usability mistakes on a website. Ugly icon, useful app. (Free)
7. RSIGuard: So many apps, and so much clicking eventually leads to problems such as carpel tunnel syndrome. The first time I felt numbness in my fingers, I searched online to find resources relating to RSI or Repetitive Strain Injuries. This app not only helps by providing “auto click” but also provides timed breaks and plays short video exercises during those breaks. Even Uglier icon, thoughful app. ($)
8. MindManager: Good Information architecture is at the core of any interactive project. For this, we love MindManager. Too bad it’s not available on Macs(thanks for the comment from Gaelen/Mindjet). Great app to make quick sitemaps, brainstorm information hierarchy, create and manage content flow. Good for redesigning and creating websites from scratch. Freemind is a healthy, but less robust, free alternative. ($)
9. Vidalia: Too geeky for most, but if you are willing to tinker around and little your inner pocket protector person come out for a bit, you can better protect your online privacy with the combination of these two apps. They are packaged together under the name Vidalia. Not for those who want a nice pretty wizard to define their privacy settings. Two ugly icons, one uber geek package. (Free)
10. I am told top 10 lists look better than top 9, but heck if I want to have some time to play my Wii, I can’t possibly have more apps running at the same time, slowing down my poor lil computer! Time for me to do my RSI exercises… till next month!