Software That We Use Daily: Improving Computer Life

published Aug 20, 2010
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From Gmail to Microsoft Word, here are our favorite computer software. We use these programs daily and have generally try to keep them updated as much as possible. While it can get costly for some of them, they are definitely worth keeping.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

1. Microsoft Office
No matter what people say, I’ve gotten to used to using MS Office, especially MS Word. Even though some people dislike it, I find that it works well, no matter what I plan on writing. In fact, it’s my go-to word processing software. Student editions are most definitely worth it if you are trying to buy these.

2. Mozilla Firefox
Even though Google Chrome is supposed to be faster, I find that Firefox is a lot better for my uses. I use quite a few different extensions and add-ons, which aren’t all available on Chrome, meaning that my browsing is more effective on Firefox.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

3. Google Apps
From Gmail to Docs, Google makes some great software that’s available on different platforms. Gmail has particularly revolutionized the way that I use email. I rarely delete any emails now, only archive. Google Docs is another app that I use daily. A lot of people share documents with me, and it’s the way to check them out and contribute.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

4. Adobe Photoshop
From editing , retouching, sharpening, photos and images, Photoshop is our go-to image processing software. I use Photoshop daily and would have trouble imagining using something different.

5. Adobe Acrobat Professional
When it comes to viewing, editing, and creating PDF documents, Acrobat is king of the hill. There are other programs that can do this, but Acrobat Professional definitely works better in our experience.

[images via Wikipedia, Dpreview, and Sail Blue]