Portable Applications

If you haven't heard yet, portable applications are the new cool thing! Portable applications run from a portable device (usually a USB thumb drive). Typically you install a application launcher on the device and this launcher automatically runs when you connect the device to a computer.

There are many different applications that can be run from a portable device. Some of the more interesting ones include Firefox, OpenOffice (similar to Microsoft Office), Thunderbird (a news/email reader), and many more. One of my favorites is RoboForm2Go (password manager, discussed below).

There are also a number of different application launchers. Portable Apps seems to be a popular (and free) launcher. U3 came installed on the thumb drive I just purchased and it seems to work fairly well. I'm not sure about Portable Apps, but U3 requires a special installation format. However, if you know an application can be portable, you can easily create a U3 installation package by downloading a program called PackageFactory for U3 (ironically, this is not a portable application).

I've been wanting to use portable applications for awhile now and last night I took the plunge. For under $50 I got a 2GB thumb drive that came with an application launcher (U3) and several applications. My primary goal was basically to have a portable password manager and news reader.

The password manager was the most important thing. I have been using a password manager called Billeo for several months. It was nice that I didn't have to remember all of my passwords for all the different sites I visit, but Billeo is basically an Internet bill paying service and they use the password manager to try to get customers. I don't mind the marketing gimmick, but it did mean that the password manager included features I didn't intend to use and thought that perhaps a software company that focused on a password manager might have a better password manager (though Billeo did work very well). Plus, Billeo is not a portable app, so I had to install it on my machine at home and work and then train it (login to a website and save the password) in both places.

The thumb drive came with a password manager, but it didn't work very well. I ended up installing RoboForm2Go instead. RoboForm2Go has all the features I expect in a password manager. Basically, it automatically fills in passwords for me :). It also can be used to populate web forms with common data (such as shipping/billing info). The data can be secured with a master password so that in order to populate the form, you must enter a master password first. With passwords you can protect some and allow others to just automatically populate (for instance, you might want to protect your bank password, but you might not care about your favorite news sites password). RoboForm2Go also includes the ability to have different identities. This is used primarily for filling out forms. You might have one identity with your personal information in it and another for your work information (address, phone, credit card number, etc).

Thunderbird was the other important portable application for me. I subscribe to a number of RSS feeds. Thunderbird has been my RSS reader of choice because I like the preview window. However, the problem with the standard version is that if I wanted to read RSS feeds at home, I wouldn't be able to know which feeds I've already read. Portable Thunderbird solves this problem. I can open Thunderbird from my thumb drive at work or home without having to deal with this issue.

So what portable applications do I have installed?

• CruzerSync U3 Edition - Backup software that came with the device. I'm not sure if I'll use this or not. It's nice backup software, but I've got a USB backup drive for that (which I believe this is the same software I use for it, though named differently).
• Process Explorer - This is an advanced version of Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc). I use it mainly to make comments on what is running on my machine. This allows me to know what all of the software on my machine is for (I hate unknown processes). What I am hoping for (but haven't verified yet) is that the comments are stored in a way that are portable with the application. Probably not, but we'll see.
• Snippet Compiler - This is a very cool .Net tool that allows you to quickly and easily test out code without having to create a project or anything like that. I just found it and haven't had much of a chance to play with it, but it seems interesting.
• Color Cop - Allows you to pick colors off of the screen. Very handy when trying to match a color. It gives the value in many different formats so it is easy to import into just about any application that is requesting a color code.
• RoboForm2Go - This is a password manager (discussed in detail above).
• Lutz Roeder's .Net Reflector - This is a must-have tool for any .Net developer. It allows you to decompile .Net assemblies and read the code in whatever .Net language you choose (C#, VB.Net, etc). I have used this frequently to learn how different parts of the .Net framework work.
• Notepad2 - Very similar to Notepad (the text editor built into Windows), but with a few extra features and more reliable. What's nice about Notepad2 is that it is not trying to be a code editor or anything else.
• avast! antivirus - This is a free antivirus utility. It has gotten a lot of positive feedback, but I already have an antivirus, so it's unlikely I will use it.

The Great 2006 Software Review

2006 was a great year for software. I thought I would make my first post of the new year as a review of the software that was released last year that caught my interest. This is software that I think will have an impact on the world (some big, some small). It is not necessarily software that I use on a regular basis (or at all :).

I know I'm going to miss some great software, so please feel free to post anything I might have missed.

NOTE: Most of the links go to the original announcements. Some are official press releases, others are just blog entries.

Google Bookmarks (via the toolbar) - January 30th

Everybody that uses a browser knows what bookmarks are (also known as favorites). The Google difference is that these bookmarks are stored online, but are accessible through the Google toolbar in the browser.

I love being able to share my bookmarks between home and work and that I don't have to remember to back them up before I get a new computer.

Google Calendar - April 13th

My wife and I now share a calendar. This is a very convenient way to communicate events between us. There is also a very handy Google calendar gadget for the Google Sidebar that shows me the calendar right on my desktop at work so I always know what's coming up.

Windows Live Writer (beta) - August 11th

I'm using this software write now to create this post. It is a very nice blog entry tool. There are still a few kinks to work out, but overall it's great! It was very easy to set it up to upload my posts to my blog.

Firebird 2.0 RC3 - August 13th

This is a great database. It's reliable, performs well, easy to use, and it's free with no limitations. I've been using the previous version of the DB for close to a year and have been very impressed with it.

Of course most people need more than a command-line utility to create and manage a database (not to mention testing it). IBExpert is a great commercial product with a free version for individual developers (it's limited, but you can still do a lot of stuff with it). If you've used SQL Server Enterprise Manager you can probably imagine what features it has (I actually believe that IBExpert has more features than SQL Server Enterprise Manager).

Logitech MX Revolution Mouse - August 24th

Ok, this isn't software, but I'm still damn excited about it! Mostly it's the flywheel for scrolling. It actually switches between a flywheel and ratchet (standard scroll wheel behavior) depending on the application you are using.

PowerShell RC 2 - September 26th

Command-line + .Net, what's not to like :). If they can fix the performance issues, I'm sure that many Windows admins are going to be very happy people.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets - October 11th

The future of the office software suite is here! Google has created an Internet based document editor (like Word) and spreadsheet application (like Excel). They allow for a high degree of collaboration, including the ability to work on the same document at the same time and receive live updates, almost like an instant messenger program (as rumor has it anyway, I haven't had the opportunity to see that work).

Internet Explorer 7 - October 18th

It's about time Microsoft updated its browser! They have done a great job of cleaning up the UI and providing the features that experienced web surfers have come to expect (such as tabbed browsing).

Firefox 2 - October 25th

I am very impressed with the improvements that have been made in such a short amount of time by an open-source project. It's great to see a viable alternative to Internet Explorer (if for no other reason than to encourage Microsoft to keep its browser up to date).

Microsoft Windows Desktop Search 3.0 - October 25th

This is the most effective way to search your Outlook email that I'm aware of. It also searches other documents (including MS Office) on your system as well. It's easy to use, fast, and produces good results.

.Net 3 (including WPF and WCF) - November 6th

These technologies will definitely have an impact on the world, especially Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), though it may take a few years for the hardware to catch up. Expect to see some amazing consumer applications coming out soon.

Basically the WPF (not to be confused with WTF) allows designers to create graphically intense (including animations) user interfaces quickly and easily. .Net 3 comes installed on Windows Vista and can also be installed on Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server.

Windows Vista - November 8th

Microsoft's new OS is possibly one of the best yet (based on the presentations I've had of it anyway). It has some great features for security and usability. As I look into my crystal ball, I see a new computer with Windows Vista on it in my future :).

I really looking forward to Windows Home Server. Home Server is essentially an appliance that you can hook up to your network for file sharing and other nifty things (it's a full version of Windows Vista). Unfortunately it's not due out until the second half of 2007. If you're interested in this, here's a great Ch 9 Video.

SQL Prompt 3 (beta) - ~December 11th

It's about time somebody added Intellisense to my SQL scripts. This has made writing SQL much less painful. I know longer need to scan the object browser every time I need to find a table or field.

Google Patent Search - December 14th

Patent surfing just might be the next big time-waster (ok, probably not). Google has certainly made looking for patents much, much simpler. You can now search for patents from the comfort of your home using Google's excellent search capabilities in order to make sure that your new "great idea" is not already patented.

Again, if you know of something I missed, please post it.

My Favorite Tools

Here is a list of some of my favorite tools that I use on a regular basis (ok, some of them I just started using today :).

In order to keep this post a reasonable length, I wasn't able to include all of the features for each product that I wanted to. So if something seems moderately interesting, check out the link to find out about all of the features that it provides.

• Google Desktop Search (Free) - Considering Outlooks terrible search engine, Google Desktop Search has proven very useful for finding emails concerning specific issues. I just type in the issue id into the search box (pops up by pressing Ctrl twice) and voila, every piece of correspondence associated with that issue.
  
• Quick Launch for Google Sidebar (Free) - I've tried several diffent ways of organizing my most commonly accessed tools, projects, documents, etc and this is definitely the easiest. I just create a directory structure with a bunch of shortcuts in it and QuickLaunch shows them in a small window within the Google Sidebar and allows me to quickly navigate to the item I'm interested in and launch it with a single click without having to clutter my desktop with more windows.
  
• Thunderbird (Free) - Easy to use tool for viewing news groups and rss feeds. It is closely associated with Firefox.
  
• Firebird (Free) - A very nice relational database that is completely FREE! One of the best features is that there is a version that can simply be copied to the bin directory of your exe without any fancy installation. Great for embedded databases. It can also be placed on a server and can support very large databases with many connections (according to the website anyway:).
  
• IB Expert (Free) - If you are going to use Firebird, you'll want to use IB Expert to manage your databases. It's actually quite a nice database management tool with plenty of handy features.
  
• Zip Genius (Free) - I've had the need for a command-line zip utility and ZipGenius works great for that. It also has a good Windows interface, though I've never had the need for anything more complicated than the built-in compression utility in Windows XP.
  
• NUnit (Free) - Every developer needs a good unit test utility and NUnit is the one for .Net developers.
  
• The Regulator (Free) - A very useful regular expression evaluator. I can't imagine trying to create a complicated regular expression without this tool.
  
• Reflector (Free) - If you don't have access to the source code, the Reflector is the next best thing. It can decompile most .Net binaries into the programming language of your choice. Very handy for learning about poorly documented features and figuring out how to get around bugs that won't be fixed until the next release of .Net (if you're lucky).
  
• Process Explorer (Free) - A super-charged version of Windows Task Manager. My favorite feature is the ability to add descriptions to all of the processes so that you can determine what processes should and should not be running. It also gives you the ability to kill handles to files without killing the process (very handy if you want to delete a file that is locked by a required Windows process).
  
• Color Cop (Free) - Handy little color picker that lets you determine the color for any pixel on your screen (much simpler than taking a screenshot and pasting it into a image editor that has a color picker). One of the neatest features is that the tool doesn't have to be installed, it can simply be copied into the directory that you want (for me it's my QuickLaunch directory).
  
• Paint.Net (Free) - A MS Paint replacement. A simple image editor that can create moderately complex images (it's not Adobe Photoshop, but at the price, I ain't complainin'). It supports layers, different effects, and several other features that are needed for creating a reasonable image. I mainly use it for cropping screenshots before I send them in an email (it works great for that!).
  
• Refactor! ($99) - An outstanding refactoring tool for Visual Studio 2005 users. Once you use it, you'll never understand how you could have developed without it. There is also a free version available for VB.Net users.
  
• Beyond Compare ($30) - A diff tool that is easy to use outside of a source control tool. I especially like the ability to compare files and directories directly from the Windows Explorer context menu. If you are using VSS 2005 (or one of several other supported source control tools), you can setup Beyond Compare as the default diff tool.
  
• PS Hot Folders ($19.95) - This is an awesome utility that allows me to quickly navigate to my "favorite" directories (beyond Desktop, My Documents, and My Computer) in any standard Windows Open and Save dialog. No more hunting for my development or download directories.
  

If you notice any great tools that I've missed, please post a comment so that I can check it out.