Hey Guys,
What I.T tools (software) would you say you use almost daily? Or what software on your tool belt could you not live without? I am curious to see what common tools we all tend to use.
Thank you in advance.
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Hey Guys,
What I.T tools (software) would you say you use almost daily? Or what software on your tool belt could you not live without? I am curious to see what common tools we all tend to use.
Thank you in advance.
1) Linux
2) The interwebz
Tools to do what? It is very much dependent on what you do for a living so I think you need to be more specific as to what exactly you mean by "tools" and in what job function or purpose.
Common items would be:
Web browser
Search engine
Word processor
Spreadsheet
Database manager
Defragmenter
Media player
Picture viewer/editor
Drawing/Diagram tool
Presentation tool
Firewall
Anti-malware tools
To name but a few. The rest will depend on what you are trying to achieve.
bash
ispf, sdsf, tso/e, jcl, jes2/3, hasp, smp/e, racf, bdam, isam, vsam, idcams, btam, vtam, acp, tpf, ims, idms, adf, bts, dl/1, apl, bal ;)
Forgive the generalization , My goal was to keep the topic non specific so the users could post what that use and for what. With that being said , my focus was on I.T tools , network , hardware troubleshooting ,coding utills that you use daily.I have also found a fantastic 20 must have free development tools I would recommend anyone to look at.
http://www.switchonthecode.com/neat-...are-developers
Thank you for your replies.
Nothing to forgive. You were just attempting to spark interesting discussion, which was misinterpreted by others. Youd' think moderators would thank you for doing their job for them. ;)Quote:
Forgive the generalization
I would have to say my favorite applications are remote assistance apps. Like remote desktop, VNC, or web clients like logmein.com. They do wonders to solve "user error" issues where someone is just doing something retarded and there's no real issue to solve, other than education.
SQL Server Management Studio (by far my favorite tool in this entire list, and also probably the one I use most).
IIS.
I also love Notepad++ from that list Mogwai posted.
Visual Studio 2003 and 2008.
Outlook/Word/Excel/Project 2007 (I believe Office 2007 is a huge improvement over previous versions, and lightyears ahead of any alternative - maybe that statement will spark some interesting discussion, keezel :D).
Internet Explorer (8 RC1 - don't care for FF anymore since version 3).
iTunes (I never buy songs from iTunes because of their DRM crap - I buy the songs from Napster - but iTunes is a great music player).
GIMP.
Live Messenger (and I also love the Live blogs - can't stand Windows Mail, though).
Yahoo Messenger (have to use it for work - don't like it).
Mstsc.
Logmein.
H&R Block Taxcut and DeductionPro :D.
PowerShell 2 (CTP3 is sweet).
Roboform (love it!!).
Irfanview.
Providesupport (great live chat software).
Trend Micro AV.
And if I were stuck on an island and could only take one piece of software, I'd take Rockband 2 :D
Any suggestions on an FTP client? I'm currently using FileZilla, but I don't like it at all (that it doesn't refresh properly is only one of my dislikes) - I tried WinSCP from that list Mogwai posted, but Vista doesn't seem to like it too much.
I agree! Office 2k7 is incredible. Word alone has a ton of features...so many that it's hard to learn well, and thus poorly judged. It's ironic that some Linux fanboys (not all, perhaps not even the majority) will look at Office 2007 and say that it's too complicated, and then castigate people for saying the same about Linux.Quote:
I believe Office 2007 is a huge improvement over previous versions
I'm kindof partial to Pidgin. It's simple and supports a variety of different IM protocols...which is good for me when I want to see people on AIM and Gmail at the same time.Quote:
Yahoo Messenger (have to use it for work - don't like it).
Quote:
Irfanview.
Yes!! Because of Irfanview I have not yet had to pay for Photoshop...or even download it illegally! Irfanview has kept me legal for YEARS!!Quote:
GIMP.
I enjoy Chrome. Firefox is good IMO so long as you install at least a few plugins, like ad block.Quote:
Internet Explorer (8 RC1 - don't care for FF anymore since version 3).
*cough*Apache*cough*Quote:
IIS.
Is this free? Can you track your finances throughout the year using it? Does it expire if it's not free? My wife and I are looking for some good financial management software...Gnucash is confusing.Quote:
H&R Block Taxcut and DeductionPro
I'd also like to add Google Docs and Google Reader. It's quite handy to be able to access important documents if you forget your thumb drive, or if you only have access to a computer you don't want to plug your thumb drive into. I've had to print out my Resume on the fly before. Quite handy. Reader makes it less complicated to scroll through the day's highlights, like Dilbert...failblog....lolcats....news. Just whatever. :p
Does an iPod Touch + all available apps count?
Linux + internet is still king tho, if I'm allowed to pick that.
I'd also like to add VirtualBox from Sun. GNU license virtual desktop...wonderful.
And irssi - allows you to connect to IRC from within your terminal. Very low memory consumption and you can customize your terminal window more than you can most IRC clients.
Sometimes I use audacity to listen to music and toy with sounds. It's good for recording streamed audio too. I mostly use windows media player though.Quote:
iTunes (I never buy songs from iTunes because of their DRM crap - I buy the songs from Napster - but iTunes is a great music player).
For a browser everything is subpar to IE and opera.
Really, if I have to use something I'll use whatever isn't hip to Generation Y internet users.Im very strange and set in my ways. I've always been taken to being a recluse. I wouldn't be to keen on instant messaging applications anyway. They're very annoying and I don't understand the appeal, frankly. I don't bother with IRC to much either. Nope... webforms are enought for me.Quote:
It's simple and supports a variety of different IM protocols...which is good for me when I want to see people on AIM and Gmail at the same time.
IM can be annoying, but it's indispensable when working on a project with people physically located all over the globe.
1. Discussion topics are the responsibility of the members, not the moderators (unless the content is illegal or inappropriate).Quote:
Youd' think moderators would thank you for doing their job for them.
2.You mean responses like these are "interesting discussion"?Quote:
Nothing to forgive. You were just attempting to spark interesting discussion, which was misinterpreted by others.
And:Quote:
1) Linux
2) The interwebz
:rolleyes:Quote:
bash
I have never found IM to be any use in that situation. The major problems are timezones and language barriers. Simple e-mail has always worked best for me.Quote:
IM can be annoying, but it's indispensable when working on a project with people physically located all over the globe.
That' sad. Like any tool, when used properly, it increases productivity. It's not appropriate for all conversations, but it is extremely effective for quick exchanges. Email takes too long and arranging phone calls can burn wall time too. Suggested reading "Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks.Quote:
I have never found IM to be any use in that situation.
Language? For sure. Queen's English <> English ;)Quote:
The major problems are timezones and language barriers. Simple e-mail has always worked best for me
Timezone? I gotta disagree with you on this one. I use the time zone to our advantage. By having folks doing work in a 12+ time zone (relative to me), the project work never stops. When organized properly, it's super productive.
Really? have you ever worked with an Indian offshore development team? and that is not a criticism, simply the result of bitter experience.Quote:
Language? For sure. Queen's English <> English
Even with a university degree in a language you will not be more capable than a local eighth grader................ and you won't have the technical vocabulary and business knowledge either. If you are talking an ex-patriot team then it might work, but that is no different from having local people work shifts?
And how do you "organise" that? Sure, I could see it working for a typing pool, or shed full of code monkeys but not for a full life-cycle cradle to grave project. You have to deal with users and the corporate management hierarchy for a start.Quote:
I use the time zone to our advantage. By having folks doing work in a 12+ time zone (relative to me), the project work never stops. When organized properly, it's super productive.
What structured methodologies do you use, and what tools to support them?
Anyways, who is there 12 +/- from you that you would actually trust?
Where I can see the IM working well is in North America, where you all have the same lingo, and your timezones are only +/- 3 hours?
Over here we are part of EMEA, where you basically have the same time differentials, but the language problem exists. I far prefer an e-mail that the guy can have a think about and run it past others before responding.
Wow, ain't been to this site in months and months.....a quick glance a two of Nihil's last posts and I remembered why I stopped using this forum.
I doubt your little A+ PC repair job would warrant you sending an email to Wales, let along a country half way round the globe, Nihil... still riding your moderator ego I see. My bet is you don't use IM because AO is your entire life and an IM client usually implies having friends.
As for software I think things that I use most are BackTrack in a VMware and Python (not strictly a tool I know). Without those my job would be a lot more awkward that it is now :( Would I take these on a Desert Island with me....hell noooo; i'd mirror thehun.com and take a good picture viewer instead :D
North America having the same lingo??? That's the US and Canada...Quebec alone puts that one out a bit considering anything official is French, and even in the US, hell, I still can't tell what some people are saying once you get to around Alabama. They seem to have their own language that is kind of like the English you'd here after 3 or 5 bottles of whiskey. ;)
Example -
Hello, how are you?
Alabama translation :
Hey ya'll wutcha dooin with the witchamajiggers on ner?
What's up?
Alabama -
Hey ya'll...
I'm not sure about all these but some I've actually heard on TV and still can't quite understand. When a Telemarketer from down there calls me, sometimes I'll speak German instead of English, and once I was literally sent to the SPANISH SPEAKING line.... I almost wet myself.
I think a Family Guy episode made fun of some of the slang from the south in an episode but it's hard to tell.
And don't forget LA (The state not the city) they don't always speak English, as French is spoken. Some people call it "Cajun" but Cajun, is actually from "L'acadie" but the English couldn't pronounce it and somehow came up with Cajun. They aren't exact and I'm no expert on either, but I have seen a chart that showed the differences, and it wasn't much.
There is actually quite a difference between states. Some are obvious, like California speaking Spanish and English or maybe Spanglish. And some areas speak "Pennsylvania Dutch" which is basically German.
Dialects are probably in every country though.
As a resident of Georgia I can say this is 100% accurate, lol.Quote:
Hey ya'll wutcha dooin with the witchamajiggers on ner?
:rofl:I almost wet myself just reading that. My wife found it highly entertaining as well.Quote:
When a Telemarketer from down there calls me, sometimes I'll speak German instead of English, and once I was literally sent to the SPANISH SPEAKING line.... I almost wet myself.
You are correct. My comment was a subtle attempt to get you to realize that you were being condescending to a "lesser" member (or whatever) who made a legitimate stab at sparking a discussion. This should be encouraged, not discouraged.Quote:
1. Discussion topics are the responsibility of the members, not the moderators (unless the content is illegal or inappropriate.
Your automatic response is to try and get details from someone who's asking for help because you've done it so many times. Even in those cases it comes across as a bit condescending, but in a case like this where someone isn't even asking for help and you're bombarding them with demands to be more specific, you're just being a jerk and your comment only served to smother a discussion. That is why I made that comment. You were out of line, and I was trying to be subtle about it. Now quit trying to blast anyone who happens to offend you.
Now...let's put this whole thing to rest, shall we? It's gone on long enough. Or if you must, at least take it to PMs.
Yes, with many firms (both small and large). Steadily with one for the past 5 years. Works for me. But I've had offshore disasters with folks from all over the globe. No country is immune to stupidity and laziness regardless of their tongue.Quote:
Really? have you ever worked with an Indian offshore development team? and that is not a criticism, simply the result of bitter experience.
I have a guy from India that worked here for me for 10+ years and decided to go home. He provides the daily supervision. We have a call every morning and every evening. He and his team manage my legacy code. Run the jobs and do break/fix. We use a subset of the methods and procedures that I learned early on in my career and I have modified/tweaked over the years as necessary to adapt to changes in technologies and techniques. It's not some over burdened CMM Level 5 BS doc. It's streamlined, repeatable processes and tightly integrated doc that allow us to deliver high quality work in a reasonable timeframe with adequate oversight and measurable deliverables/results.
Gore, you missed ur calling. shoulda been a standup comic. too frickin funny.Quote:
sometimes I'll speak German instead of English,
And yes... Jersey's got'em too...
The north jersey bennies, a la Tony Soprano. "Fageddaboutit!"
The central jersey... "a couple two, tree. You know, youse guyz"
Most of south jersey is south of the mason dixon line. I cant understand them at all. ;)
I dont take any offense, after all, he's a brit. ;)Quote:
it comes across as a bit condescending
I also wasnt trying to offend with Queen English <> English.
The fact is that many people can read and write English, but that doesnt mean they communciate effectively regardless of the tool (email, IM, phone, whatever).
To get back to the topic...
I use IM for business on a daily basis and it's an important part of my toolkit.
Specifically, I use Adium. Have several different accounts. One for work (MSN), one for personal (AIM) and one (Captain Ron's Chat) that I built for my children. It's a closed system based on jabber. It was my compromise to "Daddy, I want an AOL account".
That's your answer mate! after you have actually worked in a country for a number of years you pick up the knowledge that college can never give you. Another thing is if you are working with the same people you start to understand them inspite of their accent or turn of phrase.Quote:
I have a guy from India that worked here for me for 10+ years and decided to go home. He provides the daily supervision.
Yep, that's the usual mistake............people think that the methodology and tools are the discipline. That filling out the schedules and ticking the checkboxes does the job. I am not aware of any methodology that asks do you know what you are doing and is that the best or proper way to do it.Quote:
It's not some over burdened CMM Level 5 BS doc.
The old story...............they may be good tools but they are very bad masters.
People use it differently and meanings change from region to region.Quote:
I also wasnt trying to offend with Queen English <> English.
The fact is that many people can read and write English, but that doesnt mean they communciate effectively regardless of the tool (email, IM, phone, whatever).
That's why I favour e-mail................. you can review them for inconsistencies and ambiguities at your leisure, and resolve any issues subsequently. And that's apart from the CYA angle ;)
I:rofl:Quote:
t was my compromise to "Daddy, I want an AOL account".
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against IM per se, but I have only found it to be effective amongst members of the project teams.
Back to the original question for a moment. :)
I use defraggler, putty, winscp, process explorer, du, keepass, truecrypt, autoruns, avg, hjt, mbam, spybot, delprof, procurve monitor, ncontrol, goverlan, remote desktop, ccleaner, vmware client, vmware converter, .... I am sure I am forgetting a few :D. ... I use several different tools. Depends on the task at hand.
I am not sure I could make it without my iPod touch either. :-p
OK, as the question is about "tools" I will leave out day to day applications that I mentioned earlier.
I will also assume that we have an already built machine that has or did have a functional operating system, which I will also assume is Windows (as it is the most common).
INSTALLATION/REINSTALLATION
1. DBAN (Darik's Boot & Nuke) or Eraser
2. HDD Manufacturer's Diagnostics (eg. WD Data Lifeguard)
3. CCleaner
4. Auslogics Disk Defrag or Diskeeper Lite
5. Auslogics Registry Defrag
6. nLite/vLite
7. ImgBurn
8. Secunia PSI
SYSTEM CLEANING
1. CCleaner
2. Ad-Aware
3. A-Squared
4. Eraser
5. ExeHound
6. PC Inspector task manager
7. Spybot S&D
8. Avg/Antivir
9. Online scanners (eg Panda)
10. HijackThis!
11. Bionic CPU Peeker
12. Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool
13. WinPatrol
14. Disk Investigator
15. Blacklight
16. Combofix
17. Ultimate Boot CD
18. Disk Heal
DATA RECOVERY
1. PC Inspector File Recovery
2. PC Inspector Smart Recovery
3. Recuva
4. Undelete Plus
5. Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier
6. Disk Investigator
7. Ultimate Boot CD
SYSTEM INFORMATION & OTHER TOOLS
1. SiSoft SANDRA
2. Belarc Advisor
3. Auslogics System Information
4. Fresh Diagnose
5. RAMpage
MISCELLANEOUS RESOURCES
http://www.2-spyware.com/corrupt-anti-spyware
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm
http://virusscan.jotti.org/
http://www.virustotal.com/
http://www.hijackthis.de/
Obviously there are many tools that perform similar functions, I have tried to restrict myself to those where you can get a copy that is free for private use.
I've been told that since High school that I should do stand up. I was working fast food at the time, and the people I worked with said in like 10 years I'd probably be on TV doing comedy because of my "unique" (Read: WEIRDO) outlook on things.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheap Scotch Ron
Hell even here I've been told that before, but I couldn't stand up on a sage with everyone looking at me and all those lights on me, I'd have an anxiety attack and pass out.
I can handle a concert, people love it when the room is dark with a light show, not looking at me lol.
Nihil...
I just registered so I could post this.
You made comments about keeping a thread on-topic (the thread about the Fix-It software)... However, you yourself hi-jacked this thread to talk about why YOU think its hard to work with IM clients and people in other countries...
Maybe next time YOU should start a new thread and follow your own advice.
Or you could just step off your high horse and relax a little bit, but hey, its your life.
I was talking with outerlimit and he wanted to post something but since he just registered, it'd have to be approved so I'm posting it for him:
Quote:
Originally Posted by outerlimit
Oh? You know this person?
With three posts in a row, it would seem so...............but the other two posts seem to have disappeared?
Both of outerlimits posts were visibile a few minutes ago.....2 minute difference.............the young lad needs to learn netpatience :D
Sorry, they are still there............but odd that his post count is zero?
I'll post some of the network mgt tools that I've been using lately.
Nagios- Service monitoring and alerting.
http://www.nagios.org/
Cacti- Graphing of router/switch port utilization. Also graph some stats of CPU, memory, disk, etc on servers.
http://www.cacti.net/
NetDisco- Pretty old open source program to map switches. I use this a lot to report on switch configuration, locating hosts, finding ports with multiple devices, etc. Great tool. Just wish it was still being developed.
http://www.netdisco.org/
NetDOT- Hopefully my replacement for NetDisco. I just have to get a couple of the features to work in my environment. The docs are lacking but I'm starting to figure it all out...
https://netdot.uoregon.edu/trac/
Awstats- Gather and report on internal web services that we host. Shows a ton of great stats...
http://awstats.sourceforge.net/
WSUS- Windows Server Update Services- Gotta keep them m$ boxes patched...
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/wsus/default.aspx
System Center Configuration Manger 2007 (SCCM2K7)- Gotta keep them m$ boxes and third party software patched. Also have to audit for compliance and deploy new boxen. Still deploying this....
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/c...r/default.aspx
Microsoft Baseline Security Scanner- (MBSA)- useful to prove to auditors patch status and basic config of Windows based servers.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../cc184924.aspx
Nessus w/professional feed- You know what this is... I wish I could afford the security center!
http://www.nessus.org/nessus/
Systernals Suite- Too many uses... you must master ASAP!
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s...c5a693683.aspx
Nipper- Network Infrastructure Parser- Nice little tool to audit your network device configurations...
http://nipper.titania.co.uk/
OSSEC- Host based IDS- Great tool for monitoring systems. It's also pretty useful for proving change management.
http://www.ossec.net/
Snort- Network based IDS- Great tool all around. There are a ton of uses for Snort. I use it a lot as a backup to my Firewall/IPS and Proxy to make sure it's stopping what it should. I also deploy sensors on segments with important servers to detect internal threats.
http://www.snort.org/
There are a TON more that I use but here are the few that I've been using just about every day for the last several months.
Phish haven't I taught you anything?
Where is Hydra?
Where is Hping?
Where is IPSorcery?
Gotta have custom packets you know ;) Non-Standard ones are one of the cool ways to test custom applications which a lot of the times crash when you send non standard packets to them.
By the way I'll add those 3 tools to my list along with these:
mutt - one of the better email clients you can use over SSH without loading a GUI. Which is really not so great unless you're on your home network with a good connection, but from school, not so much.
Bash, Csh - need something right?
Eterm - Not that I care about differences between this and X-Term, I use both, but E-Term is not only pretty, it's got a neat default font.
The Novell Mail client.
YAST2 (GUI one) and YAST (The text mode one)....Best configuration tool out there.
VSFTP - great server
PureFTP - another great one.
vim - don't need to say anything. No matter what OS you're using, if it was made in the last couple years you can use this on it.
Outlook....To an extent. That whole "Click on a mail to delete it and you'll be loading it first allowing **** to spread before you can delete it" kind of blows, but other than that it's nice. Good organization and all.
The BSD Kernel.
The Linux Kernel.
DooM
DooM2
Final DooM
Quake
Quake2
Quake 3
Unreal Tournament (all)
gcc and cc
swaret
slackpkg
pkg_add
/stand/sysinstall
chsh (You can set their shell to rm -rf /user/home/* for funny stuff lol)
NT Pinball
Balsa
Opera...Which is what Firefox should have been had they not filled it with water. Imagine a 3 oz glass with a 40 oz being poured into it. That's Firefox now.
Dillo
Links
Lynx
E-Links
curl
nmap
top
ps
kill
zombiezapper
prboom
useradd
Ad-Aware
Spybot
AVG
Windows Update
xmms
LMMS (Very high on the list)
alsamixer
Window Maker
Enlightenment (Both 16 and E-17, which is what I'm using right now on this BSD box)
bmp
audacious
mp3blaster
lame (This is what I use to take the WAV output files from LMMS and make MP3s of my music)
Xterm
Wterm
KDE
Gnome
FVWM, FVWM2
mc
portupgrade
freebsd-update
portupdate-scan
gftp (One of the few good clients for FTP)
cat
mount
cdp
cvsup
There's probably more, but these are things I actually use quite a lot.
What the hell? Yeah, let's insult the south some more, it's all good. Considering we have more "tech support" from India than we do in the US, sure, let's rag on the south! Dumbasses....I swear, I'm going to get my dad's M1-Garands out and I'm sure not many of you even know what war those served in...
looks like the tazworms ;) are starting to appear again...:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by outerlimit
Gore: As I said in the top of my post, I was just focusing on some of the network mgt software that I use daily. I don't use hping or hydra daily... nmap, ping, mstsc, gpedit, mmc, etc. are tools that I use everyday. There are a thousand tools that I could post but I was just posting the ones that people might also find useful for network mgt.
BTW: Anyone here use OpenNMS for any length of time? How do/did you like it? I was considering using OpenNMS in addition to Nagios and Cacti, but I think there is going to be too much overlap in functionality.
LOL there goes the neighborhood.Quote:
Originally Posted by t34b4g5
So teabags, how come you don't show your face over at the taz?
You'd like it. No rules, no one gets flamed for asking a stupid question (unless it's in the wireless forum and someone asks - yet again - "Does my network card work with Airodump")
Also, most of us hang out on IRC during the day - those down under are on most of the night. ircore.com #tazchat.
You should swing by - I think you would fit in just fine!
Of course nihil can't come 'cause no topic on the taz stays on topic for more than three posts. That reminds me...
/me off to find user control panel
Phish - I used to use OpenNMS along side Nagios in a old job I had a few years back - eventually I got rid of Nagios and kept OpenNMS - there were a few things it didn't do that Nagios did but the overall usaged and administration of it seemed to be a lot eaiser.
Cacti and OpenNMS running together is a winning NMS IMHO
Wow. eh... Wow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vorlin
Did someone forget their meds today? :rolleyes:
Hey dino - Does my network card work with airodump?
and just who the feck is Teabags? Someone into naughty things best not discussed on a corporate-owned forum? Wow. And he's a mod too. Go figure!
Each and every one of these guys have me to thank for the whole being a mod thing. I rock.
Vorlin:
We won, deal with it. 2001 Maniacs would be a great movie for you that's for sure. Specially that "Industrial" version of the south rising again. All the south has going for it is Louisiana, which is the only other cool state other than Michigan.
Phish:
I know, I was bored. But now I'm sick as a dog.
Ice: You love me. Cause if you didn't, I have rock salt.
Spec: You love me too.
http://antionline.com/showthread.php...429#post946429
Is it possible to make this post a sticky or let the software mentioned here be catergorized so newbies like me know what software to use.