Your Favorite Utility Programs

My first post on this forum, so please forgive me if it may not be perfect...

Since the opening list featured word processing software, I think it is not too irrelevant to recommend here WordWeb, a FREE off-line "one-click English thesaurus and dictionary that can look up words in almost any program" and is available for Windows, Android, and iPhone. Its pro version is only $25, but the free version (with 150,000 root words and 120,000 synonym sets) is still better, at least in my experience, than any other dictionary/thesaurus software I have tried in the last 23 years. For old-fashioned wordsmiths who do not always want to rely on an Internet connection, it is simply an indispensable tool. :)

Another neat little tool I have been using in my teaching forever is EclipseCrossword. a FREE (and lovely) crossword puzzle generator. It may not be as sophisticated as many of its commercial counterparts, but it is so simple, powerful, and easy to use with a series of variable parameters that I cannot let it go unmentioned. Best of all, with a single click you can generate a puzzle and save it in HTML format (with JavaScript created by the app itself, so no high-level wizardry is required) that is ideal for online publishing, and makes the results highly interactive.

I am not affiliated with either software, but I am a gushing fan of anything that makes writing and learning - and my life - more effective and easier.:)