Hi everyone!
I always like to read this sort of thing that other people that I know or respect do. Sometimes I find a real gem of software. So here is my software that I think important. Some of them cost money to buy and I use my own money to buy them although my employer does - thanks very much - pay for the Office and a few others! The last one of these was on an older MBP but this one is about my MBP with Touch ID.
- Trend - I use Trend Micro Antivirus that includes 3 license’s so that covers off my Macs. It does Mac or PC and does it quite well. It works better than other choices I have used. Particularly I like how it has a low resource footprint, and now I can assign extra protection to particular folders.
- 1Password - this is the best, and for something like protecting my passwords I want the best. I really recommend this tool.
- Photos - I do take a few pictures, and to organize and manage them I find Photos to be the best free tool for me. Aside from managing my pictures, I like how it can support screensavers on my Apple TV, and how I can do books, pictures, and calendar type stuff.
- OmniGraffle - this is the most expensive thing on the list but I really need a diagramming tool, and one that is Mac and this is the best, and only choice.
- VMware Horizon View - Mac client - definitely well used when I am on the road as I need a great and dependable tool to link back to my home lab.
- VMware Fusion - I try to NOT work in Windows (on my Mac), but when I do I have a Window VM handy through Fusion. Works great.
- Jump Desktop - this is the best RDP (and VNC) client I have used. It does a lot and in an easy to understand and exploit. Especially good around display sizes. So I love this tool and all my Macs have it.
- Evernote - I have a premium account with these people since I believe in them strongly. I use this product for a number of things like organizing blog / newsletter subjects, or meeting minutes, or info on people to track and many more. Works great, and it works great on my iPhone, iPad, Mac and Web so it is always very handy.
- Monity - this useful utility puts a widget with good system info into Notification.
- BackBlaze - for roughly three years I have been using this great software to do a cloud backup of my home Macs. I moved away from CrashPlan due to cost, but I believe it does not do this sort of backup any longer. I have tested this software carefully and think it very good indeed.
- Time Machine - I do use Time Machine for local backups. A very nice UI, fast, and easy are all good reasons to use TM, but I also use it since it ties in so well with installs. Just in case!
- SuperDuper - I have BackBlaze for off-site backups, but Time Machine for on-site backups, and I use SuperDuper to get an image backup. If I lose a disk, and replace it with a new one, I can boot with SuperDuper, which gets me functional quickly, and than I use TM to update to latest.
- Dropbox - Need I say why I use Dropbox? It works great, on lots of devices, and is easy. And it has never gone down for me. I don’t use it much - just for sharing files at work with co-worker. I actually use iCloud for more file sharing.
- Tweetbot - I am a complete amateur for Tweeting, but several people suggest I get a good tool, and the best tool is Tweetbot. Both on the Mac, and iPhone / iPad. And after using this software for a number of months I understand it is worth every penny.
- Microsoft Office - I do use the Office programs as Word and Excel are very full featured standards and hard to avoid.
- Skype - A great tool to instant message and talk to co-workers and friends (this is a great tool, but now I also have Skype for Business on my Mac and it is not a great tool at all).
- Sublime Text is a very nice text editing tool. I recently actually bought it.
- NetNewsWire - this is my tool for reading RSS which is still a very powerful way to keep track of a lot of web sites. I do bear a grudge for Google when they stopped the Reader service.
- SecureCRT - this is software I have used for years to be my SSH client. I buy it in the SecureCRT and SecureFX bundled version and it includes both Mac and PC. So very handy indeed - quality software! Another reason to buy the bundled version is that when you do that, and install it, they share a directory. So define a connection in one and it is seen in the other. This is not true when not bundled.
- BusyCal - this software works very well with Exchange, Zimbra, and Google, plus iCloud as well. I quite like it. I started using it when the Mac Calendar did not work quite right so this solved the problem. But than I kept it and was happy!
- BusyContacts - a very good contact manager that does more and supports more services as well.
- Browsers - I do use both Chrome and Firefox as well as Safari.
- Slack - I don’t use this at work any longer, but it is one of the best tools for interacting with people and I use it for a few services like vExpert, but also I am working on using it to help me manage my home lab.
- SnagIt for doing screenshots for blogs and documents.
- Camtasia - when I do videos I use this tool - very powerful and sort of easy to use.
- Blogo - I use this app on occasion when I have no Internet connect to write blogs. It does store locally but it can sync with WordPress, and it works pretty good. It has iPad, iPhone and Mac versions.
- Wifi Signal - this great tool is simple and easy but it provides very good Wifi info.
Updates:
- 11/25/17 - GA
Hope you find this interesting or useful. All of the software I list here is good, and some, is great.
Questions and comments always encouraged!
Michael
Would love to see you discuss Veeam SureBackup Multihost jobs.
Hi Chuck,
Yes, it is a very good idea you have, and it is on my list. Distracted with a new product out soon and trying to get articles out for that but i will do one of those as soon as i can.
Michael