What I Use

With the understanding that the reality of my daily computing repertoire changes on a regular basis because of the nature of my day job, I do get a lot of questions about the hardware and software I actually use. So what the heck, here's the list. I'll try to keep this up-to-date, but again, my testing requirements often cause me to change things up.

Wakoopa

I track my software usage automatically with Wakoopa. You can too!

Disclosure

Someone once pointed out that I didn't mention whether I paid for any of this stuff. That's a valid concern. With the exception of Windows and Office, I've paid for all the commercial software I use and mention below. Unless noted, I paid for all of the hardware, software, and subscription services listed here, and I do pretty much recommend it all. This isn't an opportunity for me to sell you on some vendor's products. This is what I really do choose to use every day.

Servers

While I always maintain at least one traditional Windows Server 2008 server for testing purposes, I've moved my own home computing "infrastructure" to Windows Home Server and have happily been using that solution for over a year now. I recommend it highly, especially the HP MediaSmart Server line.

HP MediaSmart Servers

I currently use two different HP MediaSmart Servers, a late 2007-era ex475 with 2 TB of storage space (over four drives) and a new, early 2009 ex487 with 1.5 TB of storage (2 drives). Most of my content is currently duplicated between the two machines, but this month I will begin segregating information between them, perhaps with the idea of using one purely as a media server. I'll still formulating how that's going to work, but I will continue using these servers as the center of my home network and still automatically backup home server-based data to the cloud using HP's Server Online Backup utility, which works with the excellent (and affordable) Amazon S3 online storage service.

HP Pavilion m7690y

My previous PC is now used as a Windows Server 2008 test server. It features a a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 processor and 4 GB of RAM. This machine is frequently torn down and reconfigured depending on what's going on at the time.

Computers

While I maintain a wide range of laptop computers for testing purposes, most of my day-to-day computing occurs on a small range of "core" machines, which includes one desktop PC and two notebook computers. I also keep a fairly recent Mac computer around for testing purposes.

Dell Optiplex 755

My main computer is a Dell Optiplex 755 tower system with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (8M, 1066MHz FSB) and 8 GB of RAM. This system runs Windows 7 Beta x64. It is attached to an HP w2408h 24-inch LCD that runs at 1920 x 1200. (This displays also doubles as my Xbox 360 display.) Attached to the PC is a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 keyboard and a Microsoft Explorer Mouse (Blue-Track). I highly recommend both.

Lenovo ThinkPad X300

My latest laptop, a Lenovo ThinkPad X300, is a Microsoft loaner machine and it is an absolutely stunning mix of portability and utility. The system includes a 1.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L1700 processor and 4 GB of RAM and runs Windows 7 Beta x64. This is my main laptop now and the one I bring with me on all trips.

This PC is my main system and generally runs Windows Vista Ultimate x64.

Lenovo ThinkPad W700 Portable Workstation

The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 is a monster of a portable machine, with a 2.53 GHz quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme processor T9300 (6MB, 1066MHz), 4 GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard drive, a 17-inch screen running at 1920 x 1200, and a built-in Wacom digitizer. It runs Windows Vista Ultimate x64 with SP2 Beta 2.

Apple MacBook (mid-2008)

This Penryn-based Apple MacBook is a black, third-generation machine with a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo T8300 microprocessor and a 250 GB hard drive. I've upgraded it to 4 GB of RAM. This machine dual boots between Windows 7 Beta x86 (32-bit) and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but I use it mostly for Windows.

Portable devices

I love good technology, and some of the best technology I use can fit in a shirt pocket. These are the gadgets I use regularly.

Apple iPhone 3G

Apple's smart phone entry, the iPhone 3G, has evolved from a device that was deeply flawed into one that I cannot bear to part with, and it's hard to overstate how useful it is, and how much better it keeps getting over time. I have a black 8 GB model and I never leave the house without it. AT&T's lackluster wireless network continues to be the iPhone 3G's sole Achilles Heel, but coverage has improved over time as well.

Microsoft Zune

I've mostly moved to the Zune platform over the past several months. My main player is a 2007 model Zune 80, on which I keep my entire music collection, several podcasts, and many movies and TV shows. I also keep a first-generation Zune 30 synched up with my music collection and some podcasts, and enjoy its retro form factor. I always travel with both devices.

Apple iPod

I use a 30 GB iPod in my car, a Volkswagen New Beetle, connected to an iPod-friendly Alpine stereo. (I would like to move to a Zune solution for the car and am now researching this.) I also have three iPod touch devices, which my kids use for movies, TV shows, and games while traveling.

Amazon Kindle

The Amazon Kindle is a daily companion, and I continue to love, rely on, and recommend this wonderful product, though I wish it were a bit cheaper. I subscribe to two daily newspapers on the device (The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal), as well as Time Magazine. I'm an avid reader, and I always look for books first on the Kindle because they're so inexpensive. I use the kind every single day.

Panasonic DMC-TZ3

My digital camera is a Panasonic DMC-TZ3, an utterly fantastic 7.2 megapixel device that features 10X optical zoom (yes, you read that right) with image stabilization functionality. The Panasonic can also take 16:9 widescreen photos (basically at 6 megapixels), which I'm using exclusively as they look wonderful on an HDTV. It's a little bit big and heavy for a point and click camera, but the picture quality is so good I can't bear to part with it. Highly recommended.

Home technology

One of the big advantages of storing memories (photos and movies) and music and video collections on a PC or home server is that you can then share them to other compatible devices around the house. While I haven't found a single uber-box that can do it all (yet?), we do utilize a number of set-top boxes and other technological products for enjoy digital media in the home.

FIOS Internet, phone, TV

We were lucky enough to be among the first in the Northeast US to get Verizon FIOS Internet service a few years back, and since then we've upgraded to their phone and TV services as well. The FIOS TV service is particularly good, with numerous non-compressed HDTV channels. We use the built-in DVR to record TV shows. It's not as good as Media Center (what is?) but it's more integrated and it works fine. Our TV is a 42-inch flat screen HDTV, which is excellent. We share one of the two HDMI inputs with a splitter box. (In addition to the devices mentioned below, we also use an upconverting DVD player in the living room.)

Apple TV

Apple's often-ignored Apple TV remains the single best digital media set-top box on the planet, and while I'd love to get away from the Apple ecosystem, I simply can't ignore this device. I'm surprised it's not more popular, to be honest.

Roku Digital Video Player

We subscribe to the Netflix DVD service, and the $99 Roku Digital Video Player is a must-have purchase for any subscriber: With this tiny, silent box (and an Internet connection), you can stream thousands of movies and TV shows, and starting this month, they've added HD-quality shows as well. And soon, Amazon On Demand will be added to the mix. The Roku box is excellent though, like most digital video solutions, it lacks closed captioning.

WD TV HD Media Player

Western Digital's entry into the set-top box sweepstakes is as performance-challenged as all of the other non-Apple players, but it's simple to set up and use, and it works nicely with the H.264-encoded content I prefer. Basically, the WD TV HD Media Player is a tiny box (almost identical in size to the Roku, above) with two USB ports and HDMI-out. You plug in a portable hard drive, and you can then access the digital music, photos, and videos on that drive via remote control, using your HDTV. I use it for my collection of movies, and for my kid's TV shows and movies. It works great.

PC software

Like many people, I have stock collection of software that I install every time I reinstall Windows or get a new PC.

Operating system

I'm a Windows guy, and with Microsoft finally shipping a nearly-complete version of the Windows 7 Beta, I've moved to that system almost exclusively on my PCs. I still maintain a single Windows Vista Ultimate x64 system as well, for testing Service Pack 2 (SP2) and application compatibility.

Productivity

I use, rely on, and recommend Microsoft Office 2007, primarily Microsoft Word. (Hey, I do write for a living.)

For email and contacts management, I use Google's excellent Gmail service. Likewise, I manage my schedule with Google Calendar. I utilize the Web interface for both services almost exclusively, though I occasionally sync them with Windows Live Mail 2009 and/or Microsoft Outlook 2007. (I do not use Microsoft Outlook regularly, however.) I maintain secondary email accounts, contacts lists, and calendars with Windows Live and Yahoo!.

Internet and communications

For Web browsing, I use Mozilla Firefox 3 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 (release candidate). I also test my own sites with (but do not recommend) the latest versions of Apple Safari and Google Chrome.

I use Windows Live Messenger 2009 for instant messaging with friends and family. Leo Laporte and I record the Windows Weekly podcast with Skype each week. I use FileZilla for FTP purposes.

I use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, family, and other acquaintances. I use Twhirl to access the Twitter micro-blogging service. I blog with Windows Live Writer 2009, which is excellent and free.

Security

I use Grisoft AVG 8 Free Edition on all of my PCs and recommend that you do as well. The built-in firewall and anti-spyware/malware controls in Windows Vista and 7 are adequate for my needs.

Digital media

I use Microsoft Zune 3 as my primary digital media jukebox and organize my music, TV show, and movie collections with this software. I also use Apple iTunes for Apple TV, iPhone and iPod syncing, and to add album art to digital video files. (Zune lacks this capability for some reason.)

I purchase DRM-free music from Amazon MP3, Zune Marketplace, and Apple iTunes Store. I subscribe to the Zune Pass service, which is $15 a month but now includes 10 free DRM-free songs per month as well, reducing the actual cost of the service to about $5 a month.

I rarely purchase or rent TV shows and movies digitally, but when I do I usually use the Apple iTunes Store (often via Apple TV). We subscribe to the Netflix DVD service.

I use and recommend Audible for audio books. (Full disclosure: Audible advertises on my weekly podcast. That said, I would use and recommend this service regardless.)

I manage my photo collection with Windows Live Photo Gallery 2009, which is free and excellent. I also use Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0, Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006, and Google Picasa 3 for photo editing. I back up my photo collection to the Google Picasa Web Albums service, and pay the company for additional storage yearly. (I also back up by photo collection to Amazon S3 via the Server Online Backup utility in HP's home server.)

I use Windows Media Player (free with Windows) to play DVD movies on the PC, though that this becoming more and more rare. I use and recommend a few Slysoft products related to DVD copying. These include Slysoft AnyDVD (which removes DVD copy protection) and SlySoft CloneDVD (for creating backup copies of DVDs). I rip DVDs to H.264 format using the excellent and free Handbrake 0.9.3. This utility can also convert existing videos to H.264. Note: I do not steal DVDs; I use these products to create digital copies of my own movies so that I can watch them on a Zune or the Apple TV.

Like most people, I very rarely need to edit digital movies. When I do need to do so, however, I use Windows Live Movie Maker 2009 Beta. (Or its predecessor, Windows Vista's Windows Movie Maker.)

Other applications and utilities

In addition to the aforementioned applications, I regularly use a number of other apps that don't necessarily fall into neat categories. I use Adobe Reader for PDF files, Techsmith SnagIt for screen captures, VMWare Workstation and Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 (which is free) for OS testing, and WinRAR 3.8 for file archiving (the built-in Compressed Folders feature in Windows is a joke). I use Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 or Visual Web Developer 2008 (free) for creating this Web site.

--Paul Thurrott
March 4, 2007
Updated March 6, 2007; March 10, 2007; June 8, 2007; August 25, 2007; September 15, 2007; December 13, 2007; April 8, 2008; May 18, 2008; June 16, 2008; October 21, 2008; January 15, 2009

iPhone

With the iPhone now a crucial part of my daily computing experience, I've been using some iPhone applications quite a bit. These include both built-in applications as well as third-party (free and paid) applications.

My most frequently-used buit-in iPhone applications include Mail (email), Phone (phone and contacts) and Safari (Web browsing). I synchronize my Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar to the iPhone over-the-air using the excellent NuevaSync service.

My favorite and most-often-used third-party iPhone applications are Twittelator (Twitter), Facebook (social networking), New York Times (news), AP Mobile News (news), BeejiveIM (Windows Live-compatible instant messaging, not free), MLB At Bat (superb sports application), Amazon.com (online shopping), and IGN (for video game reviews). I use Cross Light and USA Today Crosswords for crossword puzzles; both are excellent.

Video games

While the kids do use a Nintendo Wii (with Wii Fit and Mario Kart) in the cellar, our primary video game activities occur on the Xbox 360. We actually have several of these devices, though most of them aren't working.

Xbox 360 Arcade

My Xbox 360 is a late-2008 Xbox 360 Core console that's been upgraded with a 120 GB Xbox 360 hard drive. This console is attached to my Gamercard, Paul Thurrott, and runs at 1080p on my HP w2408h 24-inch LCD (which is shared with my PC).

Xbox 360 Pro

My son's Xbox 360 is a mid-2008 Xbox 360 Pro console with a 60 GB hard drive. This console is attached to a 720p HDTV and is also located in my office so Mark and I can game together, cooperatively or competitively.

Xbox 360 games

I move through video games pretty quickly. Check out my Xbox 360 Activity Center for the latest reviews and games I'm playing. Currently, I'm stuck on Call of Duty World at War, and I've been moving through all of the Challenges before I prestige-up and move on. It's going to take a while.