7 Technology Tools That I Can’t Live Without

Written on August 18, 2007 by Tezza

In this day and age you can’t live without technology encroaching into your everyday life. Whatever your opinion on technology, the reality is that if used wisely it can make everyday tasks easier and your life more productive. Since there is such a wide variety of tools out there to help you with almost every facet of life, I have decided to share the technology tools that I have found to be beneficial. At the end of the day productivity tools are a very personal thing, you decide what works best for you.

HP Ipaq RW 6828– I wasn’t always a fan of pda’s. In fact for a very long time I stayed true to the humble notebook and pen to jot down my thoughts, manage my to do list and look after my scheduling. I didn’t even have a diary system. When it came time to upgrade my phone I decided to get a device that was a phone and pda in one. That way I now only need to carry the one device which also acts as my mp3 player, recording device for voice notes and camera (although the camera quality is questionable).

The main uses of the phone/pda for me are:
1. All in one communication device. It synchronises to outlook so I have my email, sms and contacts all in my phone device. I can write and reply to email on the road.
2. Scheduling. It manages my to do list and meetings all in the one place so I don’t have post it notes and papers scattered all over the place. Because my phone is always on me I also never need to worry about having a thought and no paper around to record it.
3. Maximise down time. The pda also enables me to load it up with ebooks and other documents. So instead of starring at the ceiling or twiddling my thumb when waiting for an appointment or meeting I can just take out my pda and open it up to an ebook and start making better use of my time. It could be 10 minutes here or 15 minutes there but it’s more enjoyable being absorbed in a book then it is to stare into oblivion.
4. Games. The best thing about electronic devices is that if you are bored and just want to veg out then you can play some games to keep you occupied.

Dell Laptop – The main drawing point of a laptop over a desktop computer is its portability. I have my personal settings and files on the laptop and I don’t have to worry about carrying around external drives or usb sticks to keep my settings when going from one computer to another. Instead I can take my laptop around. It also means I’m not restricted to being stuck in the one place like a desktop. With a wireless connection I can work where I want. If I feel like a change of scenery then I just take my laptop and off I go.

Mozy – If you have been the victim of a virus or a terminal hard drive failure then you will be well aware of the need to keep a backup of your most important files. If your lucky enough to never have experienced anything go wrong then this is probably not an area that you want to take your chances, the heartache when something goes wrong isn’t worth it. Experts will tell you that it is sensible to backup your files in case your computer breaks down, a file is lost or any number of things that could go wrong when it comes to technology. Now there are numerous ways to backup your important files from external hard drives, CDR’s or some other media.

The problem I found with them is that chances are you leave your backup in the same area as your computer so in the event that the place burns down your backup goes with it. What I decided instead is to backup my important files on an online backup service, Mozy. I initially used their free 2GB backup storage and then eventually upgraded it when needed.

The main advantages I found were:
1. I can access my files online so if I need a file and I’m working from another computer I can still get the file.
2. I can schedule for automatic backups to occur in the background while I work. This saves me having to fiddle with CD’s and having to remember to do the manual backup.
3. In the event of a disaster the restore is easy and stress free. I can be back and running without to much fuss.

Kaspersky – We have all heard about the dangers of viruses and worms that can wreak havoc with our computers. While anti-virus software has been around for a long time the dangers have increased to now include such menaces as spamware, phishing scams and much more sophisticated worms that have the potential to take control of your computer. I have used several different anti-virus services before but none have worked as effectively as Kaspersky. It takes care of my Internet Security needs and is not a burden on my computer so that it can run in the background.

Google Desktop - When your computer starts to get cluttered with work files, mp3 files and other stuff it starts to get cumbersome trying to keep everything organised into their respective folders. So instead of wasting time trying to keep your fattening hard drive organised a simple solution to find what you need quickly and efficiently is to just download the Google Desktop. Once downloaded just instruct it to index your computers hard drive. Once completed whenever you need to go looking for a file that you need just use the Google Desktop search function and you have a Google search engine retrieving your results from your hard drive.

Firefox – I am not a fan of IE and have used Firefox for a while now. The big advantage I find with Firefox is the tabs. I can open up countless of pages using tabs so I don’t have a gazillion windows open at once. I know what your thinking, IE has that feature too, but Firefox was there first with this functionality. What I also like is that Firefox enables me to remember my passwords and automatically enters them into my sites I visit regularly. I know this might be a big security risk but I’m the only person using my laptop and so its not much of a concern for me.

Popularity: 6% [?]

If you're new here, this site is dedicated to inspiring, motivating and encouraging anyone who is young at heart to live a life of significance filled with peace, joy, and success. If you enjoy your stay consider Subscribing to my Feed or Subscribe Via Email. Thanks for visiting!

Posted in Productivity