I thought the holidays would be a good time to put together a list of software tools that I use on an ongoing basis. The obligatory shout outs go to the obvious tools from Adobe, Microsoft and the Mozilla Foundation. Not a day goes by that Firefox, Acrobat and Word are not in use on my desktop. Yet the following tools take my productivity to new levels and are the unsung heroes in my toolkit.

Fences
http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
Fences is the newest utility in my arsenal, a program that helps you organize your desktop and can hide your icons when they are not in use. Fences comes in both a free version and a modestly priced Pro version.


CCleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/
A longtime resident of my toolkit, CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system freeing up hard disk space and contains a fully featured registry cleaner. 

Firebug
http://getfirebug.com/
Although I use several Firefox add-ons, Firebug is the most important. Firebug integrates with Firefox and allows you to edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.


Skype
http://www.skype.com/
Not a day goes by that I don’t use Skype. Skype allows free voice, video and instant message conversations with other Skype users.  What makes Skype unique is the ability to make and receive landline calls. For a relatively small fee Skype customers can purchase a local phone number for many international cities.

SnagIt
http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp
SnagIt screen capturing software has been around a long time. SnagIt, though not free, sets itself apart from the freeware competition with features like the built-in editor, capture cataloguer and onscreen capturing options for menus that other products have difficulty dealing with. 


Thunderbird with Lightning
http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/
Thunderbird is the rock solid Email client from the Mozilla Foundation and Lightning is an optional Calendaring add-on. I started using Thunderbird many years ago when I switched from POP3 to IMAP email (at the time Outlook didn’t support IMAP).  The Lightning component of Thunderbird is fully compatible with Google Calendar allowing seamless integration between desktop, mobile and online scheduling.

Data Management Center, DMC
http://www.dmc-fr.com/
There are few tools capable of reading the TopSpeed (TPS) file format used in the professional version of Time Matters. DMC queries, exports, migrates and updates TPS, SQL and virtually any data format. If you’re not impressed with the Topscan file reader (pun intended) then try DMC .


ObjectDock
http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/
ObjectDock enables you to organize your shortcuts, programs and running tasks into an animated Dock. Rather than having a bunch of icons on the desktop, these icons can be put into one or more docks.


Evernote
http://www.evernote.com/
Evernote captures and organizes random note information into a searchable database. Apply as much or as little structure as you like and the powerful search tool will recall on demand. You can even search for words inside graphic images. Contents can be synchronized across desktops and mobile devices allowing notes to be taken with you.


Directory Opus, DO
http://www.directoryopus.com/
The most used tool in this roundup is by far Directory Opus. DO is a complete replacement for Windows Explorer and many other utility programs for handling FTP, ZIP, files and image viewer, file conversion, slideshows and more.  Other features include; user-definable file display views, built in FTP and ZIP support, file synchronization, duplicate file finder, advanced search and rename function, and runs from USB.