Geneabloggers posted a new Meme today for the genealogy blogging community: “list what you use in terms of technology to either run your genealogy business or pursue your family history as a hobby.” It’s an excellent topic for discussion (and is begging for a compilation and maybe a chart or two). The Family Curator adds that a biographical note is probably useful for context; another awesome idea!

Bio/Info: My professional background is in publishing/graphics/web so some of the programs and tools I use for my aspiring professional genealogy life (and personal research) would probably be overkill for some folks (ie: Photoshop when Photoshop Elements might be all you need). But, they are what I have on hand and know how to use. I also have a pretty serious photography habit (as does my husband) and I love statistics and charts (refer to “geek” part of blog name).

Note regarding links below: normally I set links to open in a new window but since there are a bunch in the list below, I haven’t done this for them. If you want to check out a link but not leave my blog (and why would you, right?), for PC users hold down the CTRL key when you click the link and it should open in a new tab (works for Firefox and IE).

Hardware
  • Computer Set-up (1): Toshiba Satellite P305D-S8900 with AMD Turion™ X2 Duel-Core Mobile RM-70 2.00GHz, 4GB RAM, 300GB hard drive; running Windows Vista™ Home Premium (64-bit). Also, for use at home: Acer external monitor, Belkin laptop cooling fan, wireless external mouse, Wacom Bamboo tablet (input device), and Toshiba Dynadock to pull it all together.
  • Computer Set-up (2): Dell XPS 410 desktop with Intel Core™ 2 CPU @ 1.86 GHz, 2GB RAM, 500GB hard drive; running Windows Professional 7 (32-bit). Noted here because that’s what the external drives are actually plugged into.
  • External storage: Maxtor OneTouch 4 (now Seagate; their products here) 1TB drive and Fathom GreenDrive (1TB). Sounds like a lot but I’ll actually probably be getting another larger drive soon. (Remember I mentioned that serious photography habit?) Also, generally I’m more of a fan of having several pieces of equipment of smaller sizes then just one LARGE drive. It insulates you from massive data loss and *should* run faster.
  • Online storage: Windows Live SkyDrive (25GB free), Dropbox (2GB free, more for $$; easy sync to your computer though)
  • Router: Netgear Rangemax Duo Wireless router
  • Backup: Carbonite(for laptop) and Mozy (for desktop as it accommodates backup of the external drives)
  • Firewall: Windows Firewall
  • Virus protection & Spyware: Norton 360
  • File cleaner: Microsoft Disc Cleanup
  • Printers: Canon MF4100 (black and white laser+scanner+fax; don’t use this scanner for genealogy use though) and Brother HL-3070CW (color printer)
  • Scanner: Epson Perfection 1660 Photo
Software
  • Browser: primarily Firefox but have to use Internet Explorer for Ancestry.com and LinkedIn
  • eBook Reader: Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF)
  • Text editor: Microsoft Word, Notepad
  • Graphics: Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
  • Screen capture: Windows Snipping Tool
  • Office suite: Microsoft Office 2007 (don’t remember which version)
  • E-mail: Outlook 2007 (I bring all my email addresses into this interface, at 7 addresses and counting). Also have email access in iPhone for 6 of the addresses).
  • Calendar: Outlook 2007 (synced with iPhone)
  • Accounting: Quickbooks Pro 2010
  • PDF generator: Adobe Acrobat distiller for hard core, but you can “save as” to PDF from most programs these days
  • Genealogy database: Family Tree Maker 2010 (have been using FTM for, well, ever) and The Master Genealogist v7 (still in testing mode)
  • Genealogy tools:
    • GenSmarts (well, would like to use it when I get the time – pausing for group laugh…)
    • See iPhone apps below (I <3 by iPhone)
    • Microsoft Word & Excel
    • Google: books, maps, search engine
Back-up Strategy
  • Maxtor external hard-drive nightly backups up changes to desktop and external Fathom harddrive (aka: GreenHornet). The Maxtor is the external drive I need to get a larger version of. Since it’s my first line of restoring.
  • I manually backup laptop files to a directory (aka Folder for the non-tech types) on GreenHornet [which are then backed up by Maxtor drive]
  • Laptop is automatically backed up offsite via Carbonite (whenever is detects a change; performace impact is low).
  • Desktop hard drive, GreenHornet, and Maxtor external drives are automatically backed up offsite via Mozy (set up backup when CPU usage drops below a certain level, up to something like 3 times a day but since the kids use this computer CPU is pretty busy until they go to bed).

Yea, I’m a little paranoid. We’ve had hard drive failures before. It is not pretty.

Media
  • Phone, mobile media: iPhone
  • Music Player: iPhone and Zune
  • Car audio: whatever is installed from the factory
Social
File Transfer
  • RSS: Google Reader (requires Google account)
  • FTP: I have FileZilla installed, but honestly usually just end up using Windows functionality. It was a pain to set up though
Other Tech Stuff
  • Still Photography: Canon EOS camera bodies and various lenses. Of course, also use my iPhone camera.
  • Video: JVC digital camcorder and iPhone video (you use what you have with you!)
  • Search engine: Google. Sometimes will also use Dogpile or Bing on occasion.
  • Web site creation: Microsoft Expression Web, Adobe Dreamweaver, Notepad
Mobile/iPhone Apps
  • Tree to Go from Amazon
  • GedView from The Generations Network
  • Genealogy Gems Podcast
  • Shutterfly
  • TweetDeck
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • GoodReader (for reading PDFs, perfect for conference syllabi)
Wish List
  • A netbook or more portable device (but gotta have a decent keyboard)

And lastly, paper. Lots and lots of paper. Because as much I love my tech, there is something to be said for the paper piles to and when I’m brainstorming or working on a tricky problem, I can still doodle better on a yellow legal pad.

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