Software

Installing a new PC reminds you of the applications that you use and find essential. Some of the main applications I use these days ensure that my data is replicated using the internet as a whole.

• Firefox sync – Synchronised book marks, windows and history across all computer. Foxmark did this originally really pretty well, but then almost closed and that forced a change to firefoxes now built in version. This is just a matter of setting up an account and then adding machines to it. Awesome.
• Drop box – Drop box was one of the first cloud based directory sharing. It only really supports sharing of a single directory, but gives you a free 2 gb shared space and has decent iPad and iPhone apps. It also supports sharing publicly files and versioning of files if anything gets deleted. It works with Linux, iOS and Windows too.
• Team Drive – Team drive lets several different people in your team synchronise one or more file systems / directories. It works with Linux, iOS and Windows too. It freely allows multiple team members to join the team and shares the files with everyone.
• Evernote – Ever note is a windows / web application that allows you to note a tag notes. This is a hell of a lot easier than trying to synchronise notes accross outlook / evolution / thunderbird / iOS. Instead it just works, lets you clip things and write new notes. Import pictures and pdfs. It is very cross platform and works with a lot of smart phones as well. By filing your notes in to notepads it also allows organisation and tagging of the notes for quick retrieval.
• Synergy – Synergy is a different kettle of fish. It is not cloud but cross plaforms cross machine, letting you share your mouse and keyboard between multiple computers on your desk. One of the best features of it is you can even share all of your clipboards. All you need is a network connection. Synergy is cross-platform (works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux).
• LogMeIn – Log me in is remote desktoping on windows devices, from a browser. It works very well and my only real complaint is I can’t run it to connect to a Linux machine. By adding a client application that connects to the log me in servers, the machines can be remotely managed and bypasses firewall open server socket problems and nat’ing. Pro version include a iPad/iPhone version and remote management / multiple machine management.
• Kitty – As the kitty web site itself says “KiTTY is a fork from version 0.62 of PuTTY, the best telnet / SSH client in the world.”. It is now the best telnet / ssh app, especially the portable version, which if run from drop box, means you can maintain multiple machine configurations easily. It supports solid password integration, better than the windows tab management version Putty Connection Manager ever did. And it runs nicely under wine for Linux.