Cool Tools

Here are three apps that are handy and interesting:

Google Desktop: A program that runs in the background and indexes the files on your computer so you can search it just like the web. It indexes files, web browsing and emails.
Why you might like it: It's helpful for finding things like words in files, things you remember you read but not where. It's much faster than Windows search. It's useful as a timeline. You can tell exactly how long you worked on what. It's an easy way to keep track of the kids activities online. Why it might be annoying: It can slow down an old computer. It's not good at searching for numbers. You can download it here.

Bloglines: A website that tracks feeds of blogs or any site with an RSS feed. Why you might like it: It's handy for seeing at a glance which blogs you follow have new posts, so you don't have to go to them every day to see if there's anything new. Why it might be annoying: Some sites post multiple times a day and it can get out of hand. You can check it out here.

Del.icio.us: A social-networking website where you can store your links. Why you might like it: You can add tags to your links to categorize them easily. You can see other users who have saved the same links and view their links to see what else they've got. You can add other users to your network to create a whole network of interesting people to share links with. Why it might be annoying: It's addicting! You can sign up here.