My "Must Have" apps for Android
So you got a brand new shinny Android phone... now what?? GET APPS!Doesn't matter what carrier you're on - most of the apps are pretty universal. Here are some of my favorites and a little blurb/description: Advanced Task Manager - $0.99 - Enables you see current "processes running" with the ability to end them. You can also set up "exclusions" for apps you don't want ever ended, as well as set an "auto end" interval to end all running apps (that aren't excluded). This will help your new found multitasking. Snap Photo Pro - $0.99 - A nice replacement for the default camera app. Gives some more options for picture taking and it personally improved my picture taking experience with Android. Now I know Android v2.0 might negate the use for this app but you could try the free version to try it out. Weather Channel - Free (ad supported) - I've used MANY Android weather applications in the past year and this one is my favorite. I mainly use the "location aware" widget that sits on your screen and gives you the current temperature and forecast for your current location. It can also alert you in the event of severe weather. Handcent SMS - Free - If you don't like the text messaging built into Android, then replace it with this one. Gives you a LOT more options for customization and the ability for pop-up notifications. Twidroid/Twidroid Pro - Free/$5 - Absolutely positively the BEST Twitter app for Android, so far. Pro version adds support for multiple accounts, widget, and more color schemes.Astro File Manager - Free (while in beta) - Possibly one of the most powerful applications (that doesn't require root access) for Android. This app allows you to manage all the files and folders on your SD card. It gives you the ability to zip/unzip files, backup installed applications, share files on your SD via email, and much more. tAttachApkInstaller - Free - Allows you to install .apk files (the installation file Android uses) right from the built in GMail application.WiFi Analyzer - Free - This one would really only apply to the "uber-geek" users out there. It allows you to see in much more detail, than the default WiFi finder, all the WiFi access points around you. Scoreboard - Free - An application made by Google that allows you to keep track of all your favorite sports teams. Offers LOTS of sports as well as notifications for score updates.Last.fm and Pandora - Free - Stream music over the air to your device. Both have widget support.
Shop Savvy - Free (ad supported) - Gives you the ability to scan bar codes on products to get their prices online and at retailers nearest to you.NewsRob - Free - A RSS reader that syncs with your Google Reader account - there are many others out there, but this one seems to work the best. It DOES synchronize items you read on it to your Google Reader account.
Shop Savvy - Free (ad supported) - Gives you the ability to scan bar codes on products to get their prices online and at retailers nearest to you.NewsRob - Free - A RSS reader that syncs with your Google Reader account - there are many others out there, but this one seems to work the best. It DOES synchronize items you read on it to your Google Reader account.
*UPDATE* - Forgot one of my favorites:
SMS Backup - Free - This application further expands Android's "cloud" experience by syncronizing your sent & recieved text messages up to your GMail account. A feature I've wanted on ANY platform for years...
This is one of those little annoyances that doesn't really affect functionality at all, but if you are worried about making your system look just right, you might want to get rid of the unseemly arrows that show up on any shortcut. There's loads of different methods to get rid of these icons—back in XP you could just use Tweak UI, but starting with Windows Vista you needed another application: the 
If you want to quickly defragment your drive, there's way too many clicks that you have to go through to start the defrag process—but you can use a simple tweak that adds defrag to the context menu for each drive. It's as simple as a little registry hack, which you can download and install without having to mess around in the registry yourself.
Microsoft keeps moving the shutdown buttons around with every new version of Windows, but it seems like people are still asking for shortcuts to shut down or restart the PC, and the good news is that the old tweak still works just fine on Windows 7. You can even assign a shortcut key to them if you choose, just make sure to put the shortcut on the start menu or desktop if you want the shortcut key to work.
When you are the only person using your PC at home, there's really not much reason to require a login every time you restart your computer. Luckily there's an easy way to make sure that Windows doesn't ask you for a password when you log on, using the netplwiz utility. Just uncheck the box that says "Users must enter a user name and password", enter your password in twice, and you won't have to login anymore.
This is my personal pet peeve with Windows—you are right in the middle of a few dozen things, with a ton of applications open on your screen, and you come back to your computer only to find that your PC has restarted because of Windows Update decided that rebooting that instant was more important than all that work you had on your screen. If you are sitting in front of your PC, you can always 
This tweak has worked on every version of Windows for a very long time, and even with the new taskbar in Windows 7, it still works perfectly. Just right-click on the taskbar, choose Toolbars –> New Toolbar, and pick the folder you'd like to add. You can make them icon-only, remove the label, or make them use large icons. You can even use this trick to 
If you were rocking an administrator account on Windows XP, you pretty much had access to do anything you wanted, but since Vista, Windows made it extremely difficult to change files and folders in any of the system directories. To easily solve this problem, there's a simple little registry hack that will add a "Take Ownership" item to the context menu, after which you can rename, delete, or do whatever you'd like.
Sure, there are loads of ways to copy or move files around in Windows, but there's one simple little registry hack that will add a "Copy To folder" and "Move To folder" option to the context menu. Once you've added them to the menu, you can pop up a dialog box that lets you easily choose a folder to move or copy the items to—it's one of those great little hacks that's been around forever, and still works in Windows 7.
The Caps Lock key is by far my least favorite key on the keyboard—at least the scroll lock key doesn't interfere with my typing when I hit it by accident. Thankfully it's easy enough to get rid of with a simple registry hack, or you can 
So you're rushing to finish up that TPS report so you can duck out early and avoid Lumberg asking you to work on the weekend, only to realize that Windows hijacked your Sleep/Shutdown button and is now slowly installing updates for the next twenty minutes or so. Thankfully there's another simple registry hack that will prevent Windows from changing out your regular shutdown button with the install updates variety.
Remote Desktop doesn't come with all the flavors of Windows—you can only use it if you are running the Ultimate, Pro, or Business editions. If you are using one of those versions and want an excellent way to control the PC in the other room, Remote Desktop is where it's at—in Windows 7 or Vista it will even enable Aero through the Remote Desktop session. To enable for yourself, simply head into System properties, choose Remote Settings, and then change the radio button to enable it.
Have you ever been playing a game, or doing something else that required pressing the Shift or Ctrl keys a bunch of times, and then had the "Do you want to turn on Sticky Keys?" question pop up on your screen? It might be a great feature for some people, but it's not useful for the rest of us—and it's really annoying. Thankfully you can disable the keyboard shortcuts entirely by heading into the Control Panel's Ease of Access center and looking under the keyboard section.
Ever noticed that every time you double-click on anything in Windows Explorer, it makes an annoying clicking sound? If you do a lot of file management, this sound can quickly drive you batty. Thankfully there's a really simple way to disable it—just head into the Sounds panel and find the item called "Start Navigation" in the list. Once you've disabled that sound, you should be finally free of the irritation. 
UAC has noble intentions, but for power users who know what they're doing, they can be extremely annoying. Windows 7 makes it so much easier to get rid of those annoying prompts than Vista—you can simply head into Control Panel, find the UAC settings panel, and then drag the slider to fit the level of annoyance you feel like dealing with. If you'd rather keep UAC enabled but want to prevent the prompts for a particular application, you can always 
