What software do I use the most?

I use a huge variety of software. I write, take photos, enter genealogical information, teach classes, and participate in conferences. In course of a day, I use the Internet almost continually, for doing my own writing, for teaching classes and individually helping patrons at the Mesa Family History Center and elsewhere. So I thought it might be interesting to list the software I use most frequently. Notably, almost none of the programs I use the most could be classified as genealogy programs although they are used for genealogical purposes. The software is listed in the order of my most frequent use, not the total time using the program and for the purposes of this list, I am excluding any online programs, such as Google, which would top the list because it is the host for this blog. I am also excluding those programs I use on my iPhone/iPad. I will make separate lists for online, mobile and other programs at a later date.

Here it goes. You might see some surprises and you might not. Oh, one more qualification, these are the program I use today, they may have changed since last week. I am continually finding and using new programs.

Firefox
This is an obvious number one. You might think of a browser as an online program, but it resides on my computer and I use it all the time, almost constantly. Right now, I am using it to write this blog post.

Sparrow 
This is an email program and I have moved over to using Sparrow quite recently when all my other programs essentially stopped working. The reason this is number two is because I have such a heavy influx of email. I would guess over 50+ an average day. I review email many times during the day, partly because I receive updates from my law office also.

Skype
This comes near the top because it is like Sparrow, used for daily communication. I have a constant stream of posts most of the day and into the night. I hesitated to mention this program here because technically it is an online program. But it resides on my computer, so I am classifying it as a local program. It is interesting that all three of my most used programs as for communication. I must do a bit of that.

Evernote
I find this to be a hugely useful program for keeping all kinds of notes to myself and copying websites and many other uses. 

I am not sure what comes next, I think there is pretty much a tie for the next few programs.

Adobe Photoshop CS6
I doubt that there is a day that goes by that I am working on my computer that I do not use Photoshop. The current version CS6 is much better than previous versions. I really like the program and enjoy editing photos. Photoshop includes Adobe Bridge and Camera Raw. I am including their use in with Photoshop


Microsoft Word
This is probably one of the most used programs that I do not really like all that well. Microsoft has managed to add so many features to the program as to make it almost impossible to use. I use it in a real basic way and do a minimum of formatting. I am fully aware of alternatives, but I like PowerPoint and Excel, even though I don't use them all that often and so I have Microsoft Office for the Mac 2011.

iCal
This Apple program is my calendar and I have it synced with my iPhone. I think I could understand how to use it somewhat better than I do now. 

Remote Desktop Connection
I used to use this more frequently when I was working remotely from my office, but I still use this program to enter time and respond to emails from my office computer.

Skitch
This is a screen grabber program that I use constantly.

Now I do use various genealogy programs but in keeping with my policy not to endorse one over an other, I do not mention them by name. Next I will talk about the online programs I use most frequently. Some of those programs might also be considered to be local, but I will separate them from local by their nature.