Killer Tech Tips

So you’ve got a laptop in college and wondering what you can install on it? Check out the list below for some nifty software that could help improve your productivity. Each of these applications serve one purpose really, really well and could be immensely useful during the course of your academic life.

Photo by kalebdf. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

1. Q10 For Distraction-Free Essay Writing

With Facebook and other distractions just a tab away, it’s pretty hard to focus on writing for long bouts of time but you have to a lot of that in college – there’s always an essay lying there in your todo list. Q10 is a nifty text editor that blocks all distractions by taking full screen control of your desktop.

Q10 has a dark interface that puts the focus on your writing. The editor canvas also shows dynamic word count, and there’s even a timer that you can race against to complete your essay or thesis work. If you download one thing today, download Q10.

2. FocusBooster Helps You Focus On One Task

The Pomodoro Technique is one of the best ways to get things done. You set a timer for 25 minutes and start working without a break. You do nothing for five minutes after that, and you resume your work again as the countdown restarts.

FocusBooster puts a neat countdown timer on your desktop. It’s based on Adobe AIR, and there’s this ticking sound as the countdown runs. You can even set an alarm to ring when a session ends.

3. RescueTime Tracks Your Time Wasting Habits

Do you switch on your computer to do some coursework but end up spending your time on Facebook? RescueTime is for you.  The app will track where you’re spending your time when you’re using your computer – you can see your activities charted out in the RescueTime web dashboard.

Each of these activities is assigned a productivity score and your efficiency is calculated and emailed to you every week. Besides that, there’s a ‘Get Focused’ mode in the app that lets you block all distracting activities for a set number of minutes.

4. GeeTeeDee Is A No Nonsense Task Management App

If you need a beautiful, no-frills task manager for Windows and if Wunderlist doesn’t cut it for you, try GeeTeeDee. In GeeTeeDee, you can create a group for specific task types, and start adding tasks immediately. The bottomline: it’s simple, and there’s a ‘Compact’ view option that makes it even more minimalistic.

The best part: there’s a portable version of GeeTeeDee which you can put in your USB key or Dropbox and use across multiple computers. There isn’t a sync feature and there aren’t mobile apps yet. But, simple tasks management is guaranteed. Thanks Abhishek!

5. FreeMind Lets You Map Your Ideas

FreeMind doesn’t get a lot of press, but it certainly deserves a mention. You can use FreeMind to create a free-form mind map on any topic that’s running inside your head. The mind map is non-linear – so you can add and remove elements at any time.

This screenshot sourced from the official site should be self-explanatory. FreeMind is perfect for jotting down notes from your class and can also help you record essay ideas.

6. SpeedRead Improves Your Comprehension Rate

Most of us have an average reading speed of 200 words per minute. However, with a bit of training and effort, you can drastically increase it without affecting comprehension.  SpeedRead helps you do just that.

Throw SpeedRead a text file and it start displaying the words in the text file one by one. You need to concentrate on just following the text. Pretty useful if you’re going to be taking competitive exams.

7. Chit Chat Puts Facebook Chat In Your Desktop

Enough said about distractions, but you might still find Facebook chat indispensable to keep in touch with your friends in college. It’s downright annoying to switch between browser tabs often when chatting. Chit Chat is a neat application for Windows that brings Facebook chat to your desktop.

Chit Chat’s interface supports tabs – you can chat with multiple friends under a single window. There’s also instant desktop notification support, much better than Facebook’s pop-sound, switch-tab, see-message workflow. Just make sure you decline the agreement to install RelevantKnowledge crapware when you install Chit Chat.

8. Ubuntu As Your Primary Operating System

Every operating system has its own merits. You don’t need to spend a dime on Ubuntu – it’s free of cost and you can download it for your computer from their site. Better security is a bonus.

Courtesy: Sticky Comics

Mac fanboys and Windows aficionados are screaming already, but you’ll learn more about  your system internals when you’re on Linux than when you’re on any other OS. It might break, but it’s exciting to use and it will be a fun ride. Linux desktops in general have come a long way and everything works out-of-the-box these days.

Looking for eight more apps? Check out our previous list of lesser known, but insanely useful software for college.

No related posts.