10 Free Apps to Fuel your Productivity

As a freelancer, good productivity is a really big deal to me. I’m constantly on the lookout for apps that will add a little fuel to my productivity fire. This is the list of 10 productivity boosting apps that I simply could not live without.

1. Launchy combined with AutoHotKey

I love quicksilver on mac but have yet to find a single comparable app for windows. The best solution I’ve found so far is using Launchy in conjunction with AutoHotKey. If any readers have a better solution please feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

AutoHotKey lets you create custom hotkeys for launching programs and opening files as well as create better keyboard, joystick and mouse macros to handle repetitive tasks. For all of your other application launching needs, as well as a range of other options, there is Launchy. To get the most out of Launchy I highly recommend Take Launchy Beyond Application Launching.

2. Foxit Reader

I have a pretty fast computer and it still takes a minute for Adobe Acrobat to open a .pdf file. For much quicker PDF viewing, I highly recommend Foxit instead. Foxit is small and fast and uses a very small amount of your system resources and even lets you annotate the file you’re reading. Some advantages of Foxit Reader:

• Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is just a fraction of Acrobat Reader 20 M size.
• Breezing-fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names, etc.
• Annotation tool: Have you ever wished to annotate (or comment on) a PDF document when you are reading it? Foxit Reader allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes on a PDF document and then print out or save the annotated document.
• Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.
• High security and privacy: Foxit Reader highly respects the security and privacy of users and will never connect to the Internet without users’ permission. While other PDF readers often silently connect to the Internet in the background. Foxit PDF Reader does not contain any spyware

3. Google Services

I’m talking about a number of the services Google offers here. Mainly Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs. I love having all of this info at my fingertips regardless of where I am or what computer I’m on. I would honestly be completely lost without these outstanding web apps.

Google Calendar is a must to help me keep myself organized. With Google Calendar you can set recurring or one-time appointments and tasks, have different colored tags to help keep different kinds of tasks straight, and import any of your Remember the Milk lists for full integration into your calendar. You can also set up email or text alerts to remind you about upcoming events.

Google Docs is a free, online office suite. I love it because I have access to my docs anywhere and on any computer and it also keeps me from having to have an office suite on my hard drive. I’m not a fan of MS Office due to it’s pricetag and I’m not a fan of Open Office because it’s such a resource hog. I have yet to come across anything that Google Docs can’t handle including opening and exporting a document with pretty much any doc type you could need.

Gmail is simply an amazing email client that allows you to access any of your email accounts, from anywhere with any computer. Zen Habits has a terrific article on on how you can Turn Gmail into your Ultimate Productivity Center.

4. RescueTime

Rescue Time is a productive freelancer’s best friend and a lazy freelancer’s worst enemy. Once installed it keeps track of everything you do on your computer as well as tracking every website you visit if you use Firefox. Getting weekly reports on exactly how you spend every second of your time can be a real eye opener and show you exactly how productive you’re being (or not being in some cases). I’ve also found it to be very helpful when I start getting off track in pointing out how unproductive I’m being giving me a gentle nudge to work more and play less.

5. Toggl

While rescue time is great for letting you know how and where you’re spending your time, you’ll still need a time tracking app that you can edit and control for your projects. For instance, knowing that you spent 20 hours this week in your text editor won’t help you when you need to know how long you worked on individual projects. That’s where Toggl comes in.

Toggl is an online time tracking application that is very quick and easy to set up and allows you to track the time you spend on your projects with just a couple of mouse clicks.

6. Mind42

I usually try to take a couple of hours out of each week just to sit down and brainstorm. Mind mapping is a great way to do this and Mind42 is a wonderful free online mind mapping application. If you don’t know what mind mapping is you really don’t know what you’re missing out on. The next time you’re struggling for ideas, go read the Wikipedia article on mind mapping and give it a try.

Mind42.com is a browser based online mind mapping application. With Mind42.com installing mindmapping tools is no longer needed – for a hassle-free mindmapping experience. Just open the browser and launch the application when needed.

7. Memento

I’m an avid note jotter and Memento is the first app that took over my regular pen & notebook. Note that while Vista isn’t listed as a supported OS, I’ve been using it for months with no problems.

Here are some of Memento’s key features:

• You can choose each individual note’s color and size.
• All notes are automatically saved every minute
• New notes always open on top of other windows
• When you close Memento it saves the current configuration so that when you reopen the program, notes are exactly as they were when you closed it.

8. VirtuaWin

One of the things I really miss when I have to work in windows instead of linux is multiple desktops. They save so much time when you have to have multiple programs open at the same time. I’ve tried a few different applications that are meant to serve this purpose but none have been as consistantly stable as VirtuaWin.

VirtuaWin allows you to have up to 9 different desktops, each of which can be highly customized. The basic app is small and fast without any unnecessary features. However, you can install modules for any added features you might need making this a fairly powerful application.

9. Remember the Milk

I make to-do lists like I jot down notes so I need a great GTD (Getting Things Done) application to keep me sane. I’ve tried many different apps on multiple operating systems and, while I really enjoy some, I have yet to find one as complete as Remember the Milk. And when combined with Google Calendar, you have a scheduling tool that’s not to be underestimated.

Remember the Milk is a must have application for any list lover!

10. Picasa

Even though I use photoshop for major projects, I really like picasa as both an image manager and to do simple tasks such as editing images for my blog. It also comes with Picasa Photo Viewer, a gorgeous and fast image previewer.

The photo viewer is a fast, lightweight application for viewing images on your desktop or through Windows Explorer. Installed with Picasa 3, it lets you to take a quick look at images without having to fully open the Picasa 3 program.