I have tried all the alternatives when it comes to simple text editors and Notepad replacements on Windows.  For some reason though, I keep coming back to NoteTab as my simple text editor of choice.  It does everything I need it to do, and makes it simple to hide the features I don’t really need.

So how exactly do I use it?  Well, during the day – I often like to write myself notes or reminders of things I need to do or have done.  Keeping NoteTab open in the bottom left corner of my screen to do that across multiple NoteTab tabs is just  a really handy functionality.  Also, when I do most of my copy writing work, I like to keep it as basic as I can.  Give me NoteTab and the simple spellchecker and I am good to go.

Some of the other features included are:

• Tabs: Handles many documents at once through a lean tabbed interface.
• Performance: Fast document handling and text processing, feature rich, bloat free, and reliable.
• Portable: Runs off USB drives and does not require installation with a Setup program.
• Versatile: Appeals to a broad range of users – casual note takers, journalists, authors, webmasters, and programmers.
• Accessible: Offers comprehensive Accessibility Mode for sight-impaired users and people with other disabilities.
• International: Supports UTF-8 and Unicode files, as well as ANSI documents based on non-Western character sets.
• Businesses: Fully supports multi-user and networked environments. Works from Windows limited user accounts.
• Power-Search: Allows multi-line search-and-replace across open documents, or search any file on disk.

Now, there is a free version of the program you can use – but some of the functionality is cut out of the program.  Rather than going all the way up to NoteTab Pro, I would suggest trying NoteTab Std first.  It is only $20 – and after using it for five or more years I can tell you it is $20 well spent.

To download the free version or check out the premium version features, you can head over to notetab.com.

Another five or ten years down the road, it will not matter if you are running Windows, Apple or a flavor of Linux. With the way everything is moving to the Web – all you will need is a good browser to access it all from. Need a few examples?

How Can I Check My E-mail Online?

Personally I use Yahoo! Mail to do this, but there are a number of other choices out there. If I wasn’t using Yahoo! Mail – I would probably be using Gmail. Maybe if Google rolls out a premium service – I might switch. Now Webmail is great because it allows you to keep track of, respond to and check your E-mail no matter what computer you are using. As long as you have a browser and a Internet connection – you should be OK.

How Can I Write Documents or Edit Text Online?

Google Docs and Spreadsheets comes into play here. It is a very nice and basic backbone of an office suit. Sure you might not get all the bells and whistles just yet, but who needs ‘em? Since Firefox 2 came out I have been using the spell checker like nobody’s business as well. No need for a text editor to make sure I spelled things correctly before I post. Running my Web sites with WordPress, I can also save drafts of articles that I am not yet ready to make public yet too.

Need a Calendar to Keep Up With Dates?

There are a slew of Online calenders to help you keep up with important dates and schedules. I was trying to decide myself a few weeks back about which one to use, but I finally decided to go with Google’s calendar application.

How Can I Read my RSS Feeds Online?

Oh man, when it comes to ways to read your RSS feeds Online there is no end. There are countless start pages that can do this for you and dedicated RSS feed reader services like Bloglines and Rojo. I have tried just about all of them – and found myself most happy with the Google Reader. There is just so much that you can do with it to make it your own.

What About All My Other Tasks?

Now that I have all of the basic tasks that one might need to do on a day to day basis, I’ll talk about some of the other applications that you can move Online to use.

Need Online Instant Messaging? Try Meebo!

Need Saved Links and Bookmarks? Try Del.icio.us!

Need Remote PC Access? Try Log Me In!

Need Something to Watch? Try YouTube!

Have any other suggestions for Online application replacement? Leave a comment and let me know!