I still a little new to this whole blogging thing, so I keep my eye out for anything that will help me out. Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger has a great list of Seven Essential Applications For Bloggers Using Windows.
They are
- Windows Live Writer
- Evernote
- FeedDemon RSS Reader
- Q10
- FileZilla
- FastStone Capture
- TweetDeck
The first application I tried was EverNote, and it’s great! It allows me to make a note of web sites and stuff easily for reference later on. I love it, I’m a convert.
To read more go to Darren’s post or continue reading to see my review of the applications I’ve used.
Windows Live Writer
I’ve only just started using it, to create this post, and it seems OK. Usually Microsoft effort though, 90% of the way there.
There are two editing modes, with or without your theme. For some reason it doesn’t seem to like my theme, so I had to turn off the “edit using theme” option. Nice “full screen” editing window, with only the one side bar on the right. I like that feature, I always found the little screen in Word Press a little too small. I know you can go full screen in WP, but that meant an extra button press and I was always flicking back and forth.
Another plus is I don’t have to login to my blog to post. It remembers my username and password, I found that annoying. But I can’t seem to edit older posts, or download them for editing, even drafts.
There is also no autocorrect. Not a major problem, just off putting when editing without themes, it feels a bit like you are using Microsoft Word, so you kind of expect auto correct to kick in. But it doesn’t, all you get is the red squiggly line underneath words it doesn’t recognise.
Evernote
As I said before the break, a great application. Very useful so far.
FeedDemon RSS Reader
I haven’t tried this as I use, and very much like, Google Reader. I can read my feeds on my home computer, either of my computers at work, or my iTouch and Google keeps track of what posts I have and haven’t read.
Q10
Haven’t used, can’t comment. I don’t really need to remove other stuff to be able to concentrate of what I’m doing. It would take more than blocking other stuff from being visible to stop me getting distracted anyway! 
FileZilla
Another great program. I discovered it some time ago as a good portable FTP program. Its easy to use, free and as I said portable. So I can carry it around on my USB stick and use it where I need it. Now if only I have a blog editing software that worked that way…….
FastStone Capture
I haven’t had a need for a screen capture program yet. But if and when I do I will try this one or the one recommend by the Hive Five at LifeHacker
TweetDeck
I’m still new to Twitter and at the moment I am only following a few people. So for now I’m happy to follow them using a FireFox plugin called TwitterFox.The list of people I’m following is growing though, so I might need to look at something list this very soon.