Periodically I get asked the question, “So, what are you running?”, in relation to my computer box, its OS, the apps I use, the hardware I use and so on.
Before I list off my stuff, Dave uses a Mac Pro quad-core with I believe 9GB of RAM. His monitors are dual Dell 24-inchers and an older third one that I can’t remember the make/model of at the moment. 
The hardware:
- My box is a custom case with a Biostar motherboard.
- My CPU is a 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
- I run 2GB of RAM.
- My hard drive is 250GB (and yes I know I should really add in another drive given how cheap they are these days).
- I use a plain-jane wired optical Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 1000 with the wheel-click set as a double-click (very handy) using the Microsoft Intellimouse software. (INTERESTING TIBIT: On that link for the software, Windows 7 is already mentioned. Interesting, eh? There’s even a support page for it already.)
- My keyboard is a Saitek Eclipse blue LED backlit, bought on sale for $29.99 with free shipping so it was a true $29.99. Works fairly well. Not the best keyboard I’ve ever owned but does the job. I appreciate the fact the Saitek does not require any special drivers at all to use. Just plug in and go.
- I run a dual-monitor setup, one is a BenQ FP202W at 1680×1050 and the other an now-ancient Sony SDM-S73 17-inch which has definitely seen better days but functions fine as a secondary monitor. I do appreciate that the base on the Sony is heavy. It stays put.
- The video card I have is 512MB EVGA which is an nVidia 8400GS dual-head (one DVI, one VGA).
- I own three USB sticks, all Sandisk cruzer micros. One is an older 512MB, one 2GB and one recently purchased 4GB. My next one will most likely be a 16 or 32GB because it would be very cool to offload most if not all the stuff I have backed up on DVD on to a single USB stick. The dream situation (which may happen in less than 2 years) is to have a 120GB stick or at least 80GB. For all intents and purposes, that’s a backup drive and a darn good one at that.
Some of the software I use (if I listed it all it would be a bit too lengthy on read):
- My primary OS is Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3 with all the latest updates. No, I do not own Vista and don’t plan to considering Win 7 will be here in less than a year.
- My primary office suite is OpenOffice. I have been using this for a long time. And since version 3 was released it looks and feels just about right.
- My secondary office suite is a now-ancient Microsoft Office 2000. This in my opinion was the last version of MS Office that ran fast before it got all bloated up and ran like crap. Some say that the current Office 2007 goes back to how fast the software used to be, but I personally don’t feel like shelling out $500 just to find that out, nor do I feel like installing the 60-day trial (although it is nice Microsoft offers a trial run for that long). OO does the job, and if not, MSO 2000 will.
- I use Launchy a lot. A whole lot. It is faster than using a mouse to launch apps and I like speed.
- I use Sizer to quickly resize windows to specific dimensions. It comes in handy when I record screencasts.
- My primary browser is Firefox. I use only a scant few plugins to keep memory use down. The two I use most are Foxmarks and ScreenGrab.
- My primary text editor is Notepad++. It’s the best text editor for Windows, period.
- My PDF reader is FoxIt Reader. It is lighter and faster than Adobe Reader.
- I create PDFs using OpenOffice (there’s a “PDF” icon right in the software) or PDF Creator as a pseudo print driver.
- My primary instant messenger is AIM Lite, and if I weren’t using that I’d most likely use Miranda. Both these IM apps are not about features but all about being lightweight and speedy.
- My primary blogging tool is Windows Live Writer. If I had to go without this, that would suck.
- My email application is Mozilla Thunderbird. No matter what mail I go with I inevitably always come back to t-bird.
- I backup my mail using KLS Mail Backup.
- I use KeePass Password Safe as my password manager.
- Being the GPS nut that I am, I have a host of mapping utilities including Garmin’s MapSource, WebUpdater, and POI Loader. I also use Google Earth, KMLCSV, GPXTOPOI and a few others.
- I do have Steam installed when I feel like playing a few games every so often.
- For easy dual-monitor wallpaper I use Display Fusion.
- For screencasting I use Camtasia Studio.
Well anyway, that covers about, oh.. 35% of the apps I use.
What’s your hardware?
List the stuff in your computer box. Does it work for you? What do you plan to upgrade later?
What’s your software?
What do you use most often and why? Do you prefer to stay with older versions or go with the latest/greatest?
Let us know.
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