My weird collection of extremely useful Windows software

I know a couple of people think I'm weird and that more than half of all I do is weird. And I know that those people are prejudiced. But to keep them company today, I will be sharing you with my weird collection of software, the ones I use regularly for work and work. I don't use my PC for play, when I'm tired of working I sleep or listen to Audible.

So here we go -

1. Outlook

I use outlook for all my 11 active email addresses. And I never miss a mail. I even use it to send personalized mass mails (mails to over 200 people one at a time with each's name automatically entered in the Dear ___ & corresponding email id in the to field). It's a life saver!

I send emails with embedded tables, charts and images. Try doing this with your regular gmail or Yahoo! web mail client.

2. PicPick

This is the best screenshot grabber software! Way better than the amazing Windows Snipping Tool and completely free. As long as you disable all extra garbage while installing, you'll have nothing to worry about. It's so good I couldn't get a proper screenshot of it. I now use it for all my screenshots.

3. Dropbox

Dropbox is amazing! I have all my valuable files saved there and I can access them anytime, anyday and from anywhere or device. In fact, whenever I travel, I make sure I put all the files I am working on in dropbox, so I can continue from anywhere. I even share files with friends and colleagues and my blog readers using Dropbox. It's that powerful.

4. Microsoft Access

Microsoft Access doesn't need an introduction. If not for it, my day job will be extremely difficult - having to work with files that have over 5 million data rows and 50 million data entries. I regularly use Microsoft Access SQL to query huge data and extract only what I need for further processing in MS Excel.

5. Almighty Microsoft Excel

What would life be like without MS Excel? Unimaginable!

When I'm bored I play with MS Excel. 

When I'm happy I work with MS Excel

When I'm confused I look at .... You guessed right!

6. Big bro Microsoft PowerPoint

You've definitely seen Microsoft PowerPoint presentations before, but you've not seen what I can do with Microsoft PowerPoint.

Without exaggeration, I can make it sing, talk, clap and jump. The only thing is I can't do is make it dance, it's Microsoft Excel that I can make dance - all types of dance steps you can think of.

7.  Eclipse Android Developer Tools (ADT)

I have been learning to build android apps for a some years now. And since I don't know how to give up, I still pop in once in a while to try/learn something new.

8. TeamViewer

This is not for the IT gurus alone. I use this to help my Excel clients. I can remotely help them with any Excel issue they have. And it doesn't suck bandwidth, even an internet connection that won't let you send a mail in Yahoo! will work fine for TeamViewer.

9. Free Download Manager

For over 4 years now, I have been using Free Download Manager for my online downloads. It's free and very safe. Not nosy, but very effective. I have won a couple of converts for it. Whenever I set up a new PC, it's one of the first software I install.

10. Text File Cleaver

Occasionally, I work on data files that are too big to analyse in Excel, and Access just can't do the exquisite analysis I want to carry out. This guy comes to my aid. I simple load in the culprit, and break it into several files of, at most, 1 million data rows each. God bless the developer! It's also a freeware.

11. Paint

There are just some things that this guy is the best for doing quickly and hassle-free.

Try making a favicon or facebook app icon. 

12. 7-Zip

Ever used WinRAR? 

I heard there's a new requirement to enter heaven that has to do with winRAR. After scaling the other requirements, you must answer no to the following question to enter heaven - "Do you use a pirated copy of WinRAR?"

So you better hop on the 7-Zip train and wipe off winRAR (except it's a legit version). Being a fan of OpenSource, I find this better than winRAR.

13. Google Chrome

Yeah, you know it and use it. But I use it more. How? I use (used to, actually) it on my Linux too, where it is called Chromium.

14. AVG free

Even if antiviruses sell for 50 cents or 50 naira, I'll never buy one. This AVG free is too good. I have been it using since I got my first (and only) laptop. It doesn't delete windows system files like Kaspersky, doesn't make eerie sounds like Avira and no annoying notifications like Norton.

I recently installed it for one on my bosses' laptop. It's also among the first on the list of my first installs on a PC.

15. AnalogX

Please don't ask me what Analogx does or what I use it for. I don't want anyone using whatever I say against me

16. Skype

If you work in an IT friendly company, then you'll be familiar with Skype. I have the world on my Skype contact list. I don't know why Obama isn't there yet.

17. SkyDrive

Thanks to my new tablet, the Microsoft Surface RT, I now use SkyDrive more frequently. I have a whooping 7 GB cloud drive for free! I hope I'll find it as versatile as Dropbox

18. iTunes

Thanks to my iPod Touch, I make purchases and download movies via iTunes on my PC. Without my iPod Touch, iTunes is useless for me. 

I remember buying the iPod touch in 2011, when my french craze was still fresh. I wanted a portable long battery life mp3 player. I ended up buying the iPod Touch after reading several online articles. It was obvious that it's my best option, it has 40 hours playback time and extremely durable. I don't think Nokia 3310 can survive what my iPod Touch has shined through. And I enjoy movies on it, my Audible downloads play with better sound and app quality on it. Despite the unreasonable limitations Apple put on it (can't copy anything into it without internet or iTunes, no file sharing and limited multimedia formats supported), it does excellently the things it can.

Finally, we are the end of this post. 

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