Software
Hardware and software can both be frustrating at times but I think software takes the lead in complexity. The primary reason is that software always does exactly what you (or the developer) told it too -- not necessarily what you want it to do.
Security
Whether I am at the office, at home, or on the road, I always try to
be conscious of security. With thousands of viruses and other malware floating around
and with many new ones being written every day, it is really important to me for the Norton Internet Security 2006 suite be running at all times.The desktop firewall protects
against inappropriate inbound or outbound connections. PGP provides
encryption for secure exchange of mail or files across the Internet.
Here are my DSS/Diffie-Hellman key
or RSA key keys and fingerprints.
Desktop and Email
Like most people, I spend most of my desktop time living in email (which I have been using for more than twenty years). Occasionally I send email from the Sony Ericsson P910a, but usually just reminders to myself about something. I prefer having all my mail in the ThinkPad where I
can manage it better. For instant messaging I use AOL IM. For searching email, the world's best tool is X1.
patrickWeb is built with Dreamweaver and runs on a server running Redhat Linux hosted in Miami by Interland.
Personal productivity Software
Intuit's Quicken
has been a great personal banking, investment, financial planning, and home
inventory tool for quite a few years. I use TurboTax
at tax time. For keeping track of medical information I use Healthfile .
I think of it like Quicken for the body.
Utilities
There are many software utilities that make things a bit easier. I'll comment on some of those later.
This section was last updated on November 30, 2005.