PART 1 OF 2 BY RYAN ZECK
Please write the check out to me, as I am about to show you some programs that will save you so much time you won’t believe it! Okay, now that I have your attention, the programs are free (but donations are accepted!). I love to learn new programs especially if they will help me do my job quicker and more efficiently so from time to time I look around the web and find a simple program to fill a specific need.
My hope is for these few programs to help you in several areas of YOUR job and to impress your friends or co-workers. In no way am I saying these programs run flawless as there is no software that can promise that. I have been using most of these for a while. Some of them work better than others, but I can’t promise they will work as I describe them as they are just freeware.
The first program I use EVERY day. In fact, it is the first program I use when I boot up my laptop. It is called Speed Launch. You can find it on the Microsoft Labs Website where all the Beta programs are shown. You may want to poke around on that website to find other programs to fit your own needs. I did test the “forgotten attachment detector” without success. However, the Speed Launch program has worked very well for me as I start up four different programs at one time. Some days I teach people how to use SolidWorks and have to start it along with my 3D Connexion program and my EPDM vault.
To explain it a bit further, it is a way to open a document, program, or website with the flick of a finger. Check it out here: http://www.officelabs.com/projects/speedlaunch/Pages/default.aspx
The next useful program is “Search Commands,” also found on the Microsoft Office Labs website. So let’s be honest, when I started using Office 2007 (excel or word), I was a bit confused on where all my buttons went that I always used. This was also echoed by many of my friends who felt the same confusion and frustration. Let it be known that Microsoft also realized this problem and you can download “Search Commands” to help assist you to find the button you desire. It is a simple tab on the ribbon where you get a box to search like you would on the internet. As you type the buttons available change and narrow to what is most relevant. Pretty cool if you ask me, you should check it out here: http://www.officelabs.com/projects/searchcommands/Pages/default.aspx
Synergy is a program a co-worker found and told me about. At first I didn’t think it was really needed but after using it, hands down one of the most cool things you can do with a computer….or really two computers. How many people still have their old computer? It still works, right? But you don’t have a KVM switch to get them to talk to each other, plus those switches are NOT free. So to use both of those computers you have to keep both keyboards and mice on the desk. I’m not sure about you, but in my opinion having to switch mice is kind of a pain.
Synergy takes this to a new level, as long as those two computers are networked, you can have one mouse and one keyboard that controls both computers with nothing more than a small program running. You do need to have the old monitor to make this work though.
Not only do they have a version for Windows 32 and 64bit, but they also have one for Linux, and Mac.
Find this program here: http://synergy-foss.org/pm/projects/synergy/tabs/welcome
So in Part 1 we talked about Speed Launch to get things started, Search Commands to keep us going and help find lost buttons, and Synergy to make use of our two computers and to impress friends! Next time we will take a look at a few other programs.
Feel free to email me at rzeck@trimech.com or find me on Linked In at http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanzeck
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