TOP TOOLS
TOP 10 TOOLS 2007
Vaughan Waller

Vaughan Waller is a Director of the learning consultancy, Waller Hart, Learning Architects.  He has worked in the field of applying learning technologies where organisational performance improvement is required, for over 20 years. 

Vaughan's Top 10 Tools as at at 17 July 2007

1. On an average day I spend a large proportion of my time in either Outlook for emails, PowerPoint for creating storyboards or Word for documents.  Never thought of going anywhere else.  Some features of it drive me mad but it would be daft now to start again somewhere else.

2. I know there are other browsers but IE7 works for me and it does what it says on the tin.  I know other browsers could probably do more but right now I don’t need the “more”.

3. Probably the finest website anywhere. I use Amazon as a research tool both seriously and when I am “just looking”.  In music, video and especially books - I spend a lot of time at this site!

4. Google Desktop, Google, Google Maps, Google Reader - The Google brand seems to anticipate what we all need.  Totally indispensable and I cannot imagine life without it.

5. Again, there are plenty to choose from but Blogger works well.

6. Don’t rely on your firewall to trap spyware – they don’t.  XoftSpySE is able to find spyware even after scans by other tools.  Highly recommended

7. Skype is an invaluable tool to chat by text or phone

8. When I first set up on my own the prospect of double entry book keeping filled me with dread.  My accountant asked if I knew anything about the subject and following the two-letter reply he said QuickBooks.  Totally intuitive I was up and running in hours.

9. I never have got out of the habit of reading lots of text off the page.  And for “real hard learning” the book wins hands down every time.

10. I know this has nothing to do with learning but so many people plump for Norton Security Suite just because it’s the first name that comes to mind.  But it is not the best of breed for anti-virus or firewall.  Norton is also very invasive and takes up a lot of resources.  I was recommended BitDefender 10 / ZoneAlarm Pro as alternatives and have never looked back.