Information Systems

These are some programs that I have found to be real useful and I highly recommend them to my students. I am always on the lookout for new ones, so if you have a favorite, let me know!

notepad2

notepad2 is a nice replacement for the simple notepad text editing program that comes with Windows. Since it has syntax coloring built-in for most programming languages, I use it for all of my web work. In fact, I replaced my old notepad with notepad2 on my computer so that it opens instead of the old one whenever I work on text-based files. Best of all - its free!

Click here to read more and download the program: http://www.notepad2.com/

tinySpell

Occasionally you need to check spelling in an application that does not include a spelling checker and you don''t want to launch your word processor just for that. This is when tinySpell becomes handy. It is a small utility that allows you to easily and quickly check and correct the spelling in any Windows application, including Notepad 2 and AIM.

Click here to read more and download the program: http://tinyspell.m6.net/

WinSCP

WinSCP is an open source SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Its main function is the secure file transfer between a local and a remote computer. Beyond this, WinSCP offers basic file manager functionality. It uses Secure Shell (SSH) and supports, in addition to Secure FTP, also legacy SCP protocol.

Click here to read more: http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

You should probably download the Standalone application

PuTTY

PuTTY is free utility allows you to create an SSH, Telnet, or Rlogin connection. Need to connect to your Web server for maintenance? Use PuTTY to create a secure connection. It encrypts the entire connection--including the part where you type your password--so snoops can''t listen in.

PuTTY implements the client end of that session (the end at which the session is displayed), rather than the end at which it runs, the vendor says. For example, you can run PuTTY on a Windows PC, and tell that PC to connect to an Unix machine. PuTTY then opens a window, and anything you type into that window is sent to the Unix machine. Everything the Unix machine sends back is displayed in the window. It is designed to allow you to work on the remote machine as if you were sitting at its console, while actually sitting somewhere else.

Click here to read more and download the program: PuTTY

Programs by Mike Lin

There are 4 of Mike Lin''s programs that I use and really like - Startup Control Panel, StartupMonitor, CrossHair, and PathCopy. Excellent programs that Mike himself wrote and he doesn''t even charge a dime!

Startup Control Panel is a nifty control panel applet that allows you to easily configure which programs run when your computer starts. It''s simple to use and it''s very small and won''t burden your system. A valuable tool for system administrators!

StartupMonitor is a small utility that runs transparently (it doesn''t even use a tray icon) and notifies you when any program registers itself to run at system startup. It prevents annoying programs from registering themselves behind your back. StartupMonitor does not require Startup Control Panel, but it complements it nicely.

CrossHair displays two full-screen lines intersecting your mouse cursor when you press a hot key. As you move the mouse cursor, the lines follow over any program or window. It is great for aligning objects in graphics or design applications. I usually have it turned on when I working in PhotoShop.

PathCopy adds an item to the right-click menu of any file or folder in Explorer that copies the text path to the clipboard. I find this very useful when programming in the command prompt window and manipulating files in Windows. I can copy the Windows'' path directly into the command prompt window!

Click here to read more and download Mike Lin''s programs: http://www.mlin.net/