I thought it would be helpful to have a resource page that shows how I get things done, how to manage my time, educating myself and running this blog successfully. There are a number of tools that I use on a regular basis and this list will keep changing over time as I come to cross new tools. So I'd recommend you bookmark this page for future references.
Work-related Tools
ADManager Plus: Active Directory Reports and Monitoring
ADManager Plus is a simple, easy-to-use Windows Active Directory Management and Reporting Solution that helps AD Administrators and Help Desk Technicians with their day-to-day activities.
This comes in handy if you are lazy to use Powershell. It is very easy to use and you will be overwhelmed with the things it can perform for free.
Treesize Free: Scan Directory sizes and folders
The common issue that most of us face is that the disk size is never enough. Treesize Free tells you where that space is being utilized. You can start the scan right from a directory or a folder and it also shows the size of the subfolders. Scanning is done in a thread, so you can already see results while TreeSize Free is working.
TeamViewer: Remote Support and online meetings
This is an excellent tool if you want to troubleshoot issues remotely. There are different versions available, but the non-commercial one is free and this is what I use when I have to connect to the clients remotely for Administration. The best part is it is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux as well. They also have a mobile version of it.
whats my DNS: Global DNS Propagation Checker
whatsmydns.net lets you instantly perform a DNS lookup to check a domain names current IP address and DNS record information against multiple name servers located in different parts of the world.
MX Toolbox: Excellent MX record and Blacklist checking a website
This is another tool that I use to check the MX Records and the details related to the Name Servers. You have other features like Blacklisted websites, diagnostics etc. Give it a whirl.
Productivity/Time Management Tools
Google Calendar: This has been my choice of a calendar from the time I started using Google's products. It is easy to collaborate and you can keep a track of the events easily.
Trello: This is the best tool for managing group projects that I use when I need to collaborate with other people. It comes with a beautiful concept of boards and cards. I am sure you will love it too.
Wunderlist: This is my to-do app of choice and it is brilliant. I can share my lists with others if I want to, set reminders and it is available on all major platforms.
OneDrive: Since I use Microsoft products a lot, I am a little biased to this product. It has excellent features like every other cloud storage product and syncs across all devices. You might also want to take a look at Dropbox or Google Drive.
Note Management Tools
Evernote: This is by far the most commonly used tool of mine. I write all my article ideas, not-so-good article ideas and every other thing on this. The new look of the Web client is simply amazing. And yes, it is available and syncs on all platforms.
WordPress Distraction Free Editor: This was an update which was released to WordPress recently. Everything on the screen disappears except the place where you are writing the article. It's pretty good considering how easily distracted all of us can get.
Learning/Studying
Microsoft Virtual Academy: This is an excellent place for free tutorials but only related to Microsoft products. I have found this site immensely helpful for System Administrators and also the developers who work on Microsoft products.
Pluralsight: Pluralsight recently acquired Trainsignal, this company has a wide variety of online courses across all platforms. Most of the people that I admire are the authors for this site, so you can be sure that every penny is worth it. They have a 10-day free trial.
List of VSA Virtual Storage Appliances and SAN Storage Simulators from FlackBox: Neil has done an awesome job of aggregating the list of storage simulators and Virtual Storage Appliances that are available for free. This is going to be very handy whenever you are trying to build home labs. Great job, Neil!
I hope that this page has been useful to all of you and gives you an insight into how I manage the stuff that I do. Click here to go back to see the latest articles on the blog.