It's your first day on the job, what are the first three tools you install?

For me I prefer Notepad ++ as you can have multiple tabs, search multiple docs, and it formats code well too.

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  1. Chrome
  2. Notepad++, I like the search functionality in Notepad++ more then the search in Sublime
  3. Either 7zip or Python
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  • Firefox
  • Cygwin (for all the lovely Linux Utilities)
  • Jing (Screenshot Tool from TechSmith)
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On a new Windows PC I’d install:

  • Chrome (obvs)
  • Ninite (automatically installs common software, deselects all browser toolbar check boxes etc.)
  • Ubuntu command line tools (one of the sort-of distros offered through the Windows Subsystem for Linux AKA WSL)

If you’ve not heard of Ninite, I definitely recommend checking it out. You choose the programs you want from a list and download a the resulting .exe file, then Ninite installs everything in the background with sensible settings and no adware or other unwanted stuff.

On a new Mac PC I’d install:

  • Chrome
  • Homebrew
  • Docker
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I’ve not used the new openSSH client on Windows 10 yet, but I can recommend giving the Ubuntu command line tools a try (enable Windows Subsystem for Linux then download Ubuntu from the Windows Store) - as a Linux environment it’s not quite perfect, but tools like ssh, rsync, wget etc. work really well.

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I pick Notepad++ since it’s under the GPL and doesn’t require a paid license of any sort.

While you can use Sublime w/o a license, you’re supposed to pay for a license. I’ve never paid for one, so I’m not comfortable using it, especially on work systems where I expose both myself and my employer . On the other hand, if you do pay the $80, it’s a pretty generous personal license, allowing for as many copies as you want for your use, including commercial use.

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I’ve used the Ubuntu stuff on my personal machine, just not in a work environment. I’m not sure how much I’d use since when I’m on Windows I’ve developed all the work arounds for not having many of the command line niceties from *nix environments, but it seemed to work fine.

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“…given a bog standard installation of Windows?” then I install Open Office and write a resignation letter :scream:

More seriously, I think it really depends on the product you have to test. I wouldn’t install anything before understanding the SUT…sorry if I don’t really answer the question :wink:

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I’ve always worked in Windows environments.

  • Notepad++
  • Jing
  • 7-zip

Closely followed by

  • Chrome
  • Firefox
  • Fiddler
  • WinMerge

A great question - and a great selection of tools here, some are new to me, some are familiar

Mine (at the moment) would be:

  • TextWrangler (great text editor, with lots of built-in tools)
  • Xmind (Mind mapping straight away, day 1…)
  • Firefox Quantum (has built-in screenshots tool now)

Closely followed by:

  • Slack (use it on nearly all my freelance projects now)
  • Charles (use this on almost all projects now)
  1. Xmind - can’t live without it!
  2. A screenshot tool of some kind - currently using Jing, but have used Greenshot.
  3. Notepad++
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I don’t work in a Linux environment (and this could start a testing flame war!) but I spent a few weeks at the start of the year learning Vim. Once you get the hang of the keyboard commands (and there are cheatsheets for this) it is really powerful and quick to navigate. If I had a choice, I’d install that.

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Project Management tool
Automation tool
Communication tool

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I would probably install:

  • Chrome
  • Eclipse
  • Atom
  • VS Code
  • VMware
  • Snagit

Followed closely by:

  • Postman
  • Firefox
  • HeidiSQL
  • Cygwin : and git obvs
  • Firefox
  • Programmers Notepad