I was having a conversation with some people yesterday about what software they were using. They started to give me their list. I realized I have never made a list of my most used and useful tools and applications. So I started to compile one. It is not complete but I figure I should at least share what I have.
Recommended Applications

Web Browser
Firefox – www.getfirefox.com

Email Client (POP3)
Thunderbird - http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/

FTP Client
Filezilla – Secure FTP Client - http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/

Remote Connections
VNC – www.realvnc.org
Remote Desktop – (windows) - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdclientdl.mspx
Rdesktop - Remote Desktop client – (Linux) - http://www.rdesktop.org/
Putty - SSH Client – Win - http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/x86/putty.exe

Communication
Skype – Voice over IP – www.skype.com
Voice Mail – SAM - http://www.freewebs.com/skypeansweringmachine/
Trillium – IM clients - http://www.trillian.cc/

Anti Spyware
Microsoft Anti spyware - http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
Ad-aware – Antispyware - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Anti Virus
Norton Antivirus – 2004 – www.norton.com
McAfee Enterprise – www.mcafee.com

DVD Burning
1 Click DVD burning – DVD copy program - http://www.1clickdvdcopy.com/
AnyDVD – DVD ripper – www.anydvd.com
DVD43 - DVD Copy protection removal - http://www.dvd43.com/

CD Burning
Nero ROM – CD Burning Software – http://www.nero.com

Server Software
Kiwi Syslog – Windows Syslog server - http://www.kiwisyslog.com/
Snort – IDS system – http://www.snort.org
IIS Reporter – IIS real time stats – http://www.iisreporter.com
Secure FTP Server – Global Scape – http://www.globalscape.com/gsftps
Email Server – Smarter Mail - http://www.smartertools.com/Products/SmarterMail/Overview.aspx

Tools
RSS Bandit – RSS Reader – http://www.rssbandit.org
WGET – Web page save util - http://xoomer.virgilio.it/hherold/
WinSCP - SSH file browser - http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

Music
Winamp – MP3 Player – http://www.winamp.com
Itunes – Audio purchase software - http://www.itunes.com
Ipodder – Podcast Grabber – http://www.ipodder.org
Audacity – Audio file editor / mixer – http://audacity.sourceforge.net
CDex – MP3 ripper - http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/
Advanced MP3 collection - Organize MP3 Collection http://www.wizetech.com/amc/index.shtml

The guys at my hosting provider were able to help me with my CSS issue on this site. It was the way that the PHP was rendering the css files. By adding the following code into the .css files the issue was resolved.
< ? Header ("Content-type: text/css");?>

This causes the css file to have a content status of text/css. We are back on track.

I did find a VOIP comparison over a cnet
http://reviews.cnet.com/VoIP/4540-9238_7-30865573-3.html

Here is my story of how I lowered my long distance. I started using skype a while ago with one of my projects (iisreporter.com). It allowed me to talk to people or have people contact me via a phone system. I realized how valuable this free VOIP system was that I got all my friends and family using it. Gotta love free calling. So after some use, I realize that using skype out ($.02 a min) was a great idea as well. But I did not want to be tied to a headset that was connected to my computer to use skype. So I did some googleing and really did not find too much. I finally found the best device over at Pcphoneline.com - the VTA1000 allows me to connect any regular phone to my computer and use skype through it.

Here is how it works. You connect the VTA1000a into your USB port. The VTA1000a has a regular phone jack converter on it. So you plug a standard phone into it. I chose a Panasonic 900Mhz cordless phone as my longdistance phone. I chose panasonic, because I really do like the quality phone they make. I decided on a 900mhz phone instead of 2.4ghz because of my local wireless network. A 2.4ghz phone causess all kinds of issues. I then purchased a headset for the panasonic phone, for 12 bucks. So for a total of $90, I have some free longdistance and longdistance for $.02.

I forgot to mention that we had a 100 dollar phone bill a month ago. My wife is working from home and it requires long distance. We now have had a 14 dollar bill last month using skype out. So with technology, i have been able to make a great advancement. Keep up the good work skype.

One thing I would have done different would be to have purchased a 2 line phone and then just have skyp hang off the main phone system as the second line. But, a 2line phone is more than what I had in my budget. So for now we have to grab the longdistance cordless phone.

Oh yea, did I forget to mention that calling friends and family who also have skype is free. And that the quality is fantastic…. I am not sure how people would use vonage when you can get a Skype out account and skype in for 30 a year. I think I need to see some comparisons. Also, I use SAM (Skype Answering Machine) So I also get voicemail when I am not around to answer any skype calls.

Here is some more soccer info for those interested out there. The US National team plays on Easter Sunday (March 27th) agains Mexico. This should be a great game. ESPN2 is coverng the game at 1:00 PM Eastern. This is an important game, it is a qualfiying game for the 2006 World Cup. Mexico is still upset about the US beating them in the qualifying rounds before the 2002 World Cup and keeping them out of the competition. So this match is important for both teams. USsoccer.com is reporting the tension that is surrounding the games and giving some quotes / talk from both teams. LINK HERE

As always, I am just excited to have soccer on TV for one. So gather around the tube and pop some popcorn and watch the US Kick some ass.

Well it is almost over. I may actually have a new server by the middle of next week. We never did get a working 1655mc server, even after another batch of parts. So dell is now sending a new servers to replace our broken ones. I hope this works.

I can only give Dell credit. Their support staff is great. I have got tons of calls from people who are generally concerned about our issue. I even had a tech who stayed extra hours to help make these things work. So my hat goes off to Dell, I will buy another and will stick with Them.

On a side note, we had another Dell (new one) also go bad this week. On Tuesday our brand new 1850 lost a motherboard. So dell got us another one right away, however the raid controler on that box was flawed. So a new raid card had to be sent as well. Once again, great work Dell support. They were able to ship parts in less than an hour to our location and a tech was there in 2 hours.

Well last night, Friday night we tried all new parts again in our server. We have a each and every part of that server as new. And it will not POST… Nothing, it does not even error to the screen. So as a final resolve I have a new server coming one that has been assembled and tested by dell to be sent. The only thing I can think of is that we are not able to seat the processors in the slots correctly and that is why it will not post. That is all I canthink of. So a new one is on the way.

On a positive note, the drives seem to be in working order. we threw the drives into another server and made the boot and was able to get a ghost image and all info from the live drives.

Here is my story, it is 1:00 AM and a DHL delivery guy just parts for my Dell Blade Server. It is the second parts delivery, they ship right to your location in 4hrs. Dell has great service, however in cases like this service is not enough. You see I am still waiting, it is 2 days later. I have enough parts to make 4 complete servers. I have motherboards, cpu’s, ram, drives, cases, and even chassis parts. But for some reason this thing will not post. And I do mean post. It won’t even display to the screen.

For those of you who are not familure with Blade Servers the 1655MC is sweet. It is a 3U rack mounted case that can hold 6 blade servers. Each server can have up to 2 processors and regular SCSI drives. I have a lot of these guys and have never had issues before. However, recently one just died. I decided not not to do anything, display or post. So I called my dell support. I had parts and a tech at the door in 2hours.

This was at 1:00 PM on Wed afternoon. We tried everything, from replacing the Mother board, CPU’s , and ram. None of that worked. By 7 PM I had gone through 2 techs at the Dell office and another round of parts, more cpu’s and another motherboard. Still nothing. At 1:00 our last round of Cpu’s and motherboards and some other parts showed up.

Even with all that we could not get this thing to post, or even show like it was going to boot. I have talked to everyone at dell, so now a new blade server is on the way. Very frustrating.

I am fortunate because we have redundancy built into all of our servers, and systems. This server ran DNS , secure FTP, and site search. To get things back rolling all I had to do was push DNS to the secondary, move the secure ftp to another server and pull back the config from tape, then also setup the site search from another box. The issue with this is that I did not start the DR migration till around 2:00 AM when we figured we would not be getting the server back.

So here I sit Friday night with more parts, and entire new server worth, and still no luck. We have even changed out the chasis.

More to come….

For those of you out there who are NCAA basketball fans, don’t forget to get your copy of Tourney Logics March Madness Pool Manager. It is the best way to manage a pool in your office or neighborhood.

There are a few version of the pool manager. One is an intranet version where you would run the program on an internal server. Another version is the internet version where you could run your own public server.

The guys from TL have also created a bracket control you can use in your .NET programs. It is a very useful, and powerful tool.

Happy March madness. I know my productivity will be down in the next few weeks. I’ll be using my new DVR setup to watch live TV over the net.

Well I finally did it, I broke down and purchased an IPOD. I ended up with an IPOD mini. I decided to go with the 4 Gig, silver mini. You can see it here (apple.com)

You may be wondering why I did this purchase when I already have a very capable mp3 player, my trusty IPAQ. Well, after some thought and a close call with an IPOD shuffel I ended up with this mini. I listen to a lot of Podcasts and plan to subscribe to more as it becomes more popular. As I was moving files on and off my ipaq to take with me I realized how tedius it was. I had to take my ipaq out of it’s case (a Franklin covey) which I take everywhere with me, then I had to get everything hooked up to it. I decided that I could now just use an ipod for my music. So now I am one of those people… an IPOD carrying fu fu person. I do have to tell you that it is really well made and designed and easy to use.

Now I just have to make Itunes my default player… We will have to see about that. I have been a diehard winamp user for years. I will have to discuss the ups and downs of itunes soon.

I was reading slashdot and found an interesting “ASK Slashdot Question” the question was Has P2P influenced your music tastes. I got to thinking about this, and was stunned at my own response. I have to answer that is has changed my music tastes.

I own, or did own a tone of cd’s. Once I got hooked on MP3 I converted my CD’s into mp3’s. And sold them off at some garage sales. But once I started finding music on the P2P networks I realized that I was looking for a whole new type of music. I was no longer searching for the same music I heard on the radio, but looking for different music that fit my tastes.

I asked myself why that was. I realized that when I purchased a CD I was very tied to the actual transaction. I did not want to spend my hard earned money on something that I did not know anything about. So I stuck to purchasing main stream music. That whole transaction thing where I actually got an item (cd) when I paid money was also hard to handle. I knew that I could go home and probably get 80% of the cd off some P2P site. From this logic I noticed that my taste in music had changed. I started searching for more acoustic and live music from the bands that I liked. I would find individual songs and other mashups or concerts that were just as fun. Over time I was no longer looking at main stream music but was getting other artists who may have done cover songs that I knew.

Now, move forward to today. I no longer use P2P, that is a personal choice. I do not like the feeling that what I am doing is stealing. But, I do use music services (itunes, napster, and real) to purchase single songs. I find this an easy and less expensive process than purchasing a full cd. But as I look at the type of music I am purchasing it has changed. And I do think a lot of that change can be attributed to P2P. If it were not for the ease of finding songs and music, I would have never discovered anything other than what was on the radio. So thank you P2P for opening my eyes.

P.S. I also have realized that when I do hear an artist or song that I like, I am more apt to purchase that song from an online service rather than just download.

Well I have been having issues w/ a few of my sites and Firefox. Each site (including this one) uses CSS and did not have issues till a few days ago. Infact, I build most of my sites and test all of my sites in firefox. They were working correctly earlier and the files have not changed in over a month. I just don’t understand, I have to figure this out or I will go insane.

To add to this issue, the sites work great on my local machine or another server. I am starting to guess that it is my server.

My recent upgrade to Word Press 1.5 has destroyed the site when using Firefox. I am currently working on fixing that issue. Please be patient

The book that I am currently reading is Splinter Cell by Tom Clancy. You can read more about it here at (www.amazon.com)

So far it is another good book by Tom Clancy. I currently 80% into the book.

Geo URL 2.o is finally out. I have been using geourl for a long time and went to check the site for some new information and noticed that it was down. The had taken geourl down to upgrade to 2.o.

GeoURL is a location-to-URL reverse directory. This will allow you to find URLs by their proximity to a given location. Find your neighbor’s blog, perhaps, or the web page of the restaurants near you. GeoURL is listing 138,763 sites.

You can visit it here at (www.geourl.org)

One of the neat things it offers is sites in proximity to where you are. Here is an example http://geourl.org/near?p=http://www.jimiz.net