The LifeMaven

“No! Not another list of stuff stolen from LifeHack and Download.com!”

Yes, I’m afraid so.

I’ll try to keep it entertaining and maybe include some lesser known apps as well, okay? (Seeing as how I love free software so much, this might just become a regular item, who knows?)

Launchy

Oh, my dear Launchy. How I could not go a day without you?

For those who aren’t familiar with Launchy, this little baby is a very simple, but powerful application or document launcher.

Huh? English, please!

What it does is index most of your programs and allows you to quickly start any of them up by simply pressing a hotkey combination and then typing the name of the program.

So if I want to open iTunes for example, I would just press alt+space (that’s my hotkey combination/the default) then type iTunes.

That’s just for starters.

If you want to get really fancy, you can tell Launchy to index particular folders so that you can search them too.

You can find Launchy at their website.

Synergy

This one is another growing favorite. One of the few joys of my corporate job is the ability to play with multiple monitors. (I’m a techie what do you want? xP) So when I used to be doing schoolwork for college, I would generally type on my desktop and do research or chat on my laptop.

Why switch from keyboard to keyboard when you can do it all from one?

That’s what Synergy does. It lets you control multiple computers with only one keyboard and mouse using the magic power of networks and the Internets!

Seriously, I think that’s awesome!

Supposedly, the one flaw in the program is that information being sent over the Internet to any of the additional computers is not encrypted, so you might not want to be looking at your bank statement on that other machine.

You can get this totally fantastic piece of software here along with instructions on how to set it up and use it.

LogMeIn

Not so much an app as it is a service. LogMeIn allows remote desktop access through a very simple web interface.

Translation: You can remote control another computer through your web browser.

So if you’re like me and have a laptop and desktop, sometimes I want to watch a movie or something on the desktop, but I get tired of getting up to play with the settings. (I’m lazy and my computer is like 5 feet from my bed.)

Why not use your laptop as a giant remote control?

I can sit in bed with my laptop and get the urge to play something in iTunes on my desktop. With a quick login using LogMeIn, I’m controlling my desktop without ever sitting up.

Of course, you can be more practical and use it as a traditional remote access pathway, but where’s the fun in that?

LogMeIn is here and you’ll need to sign up for a free account and set up the browser extension and software on each of your computers before you can actually use it. It should take about 15 minutes and needs only a basic knowledge of how to install software and Firefox extensions. (I don’t remember if Firefox is needed, but it’s what I use and for that you need a special plugin.)

There you have it. Three seriously cool useful, free pieces of software.

Got another cool app that should be featured here? Problem installing or using? Let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to help!

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