Free software to help your computing life

I am writing this article because many of my friends and colleagues do not know that there are many free alternatives to what most people call "essential" software.  Things like MS Office and Antivirus.  There have been many articles written about this and I am sure there will be many more.

Anyway, on to the article......

I have always been a proponent of free software.  This dates back to the early 90's when I was first getting to PC's heavy.  I have always tried to help the small guy that would release his software for free in hope of getting feedback and make it better.

Times have changed, and the free software available today has changed.  There are now companies that have fully developed, very finished products that are free for personal use.  This is great news for those that wish to save a few dollars and still have decent software that is comparable to the big guys that charge mega bucks. 

The first free alternative I want to talk about is Open Office.  Open Office has been around for many years.  It will open the most current MS Office documents with the exception of the Beta Office 2007.  If you are used to MS word and MS Excel the window views are very similar.  So for a great alternative to the extremely expensive MS Office, give Open Office a try.  You may find yourself saving a bunch of money.

The second free alternative is the must have antivirus software.  there are three free candidates that offer great protection.  First would be Antivir Personal Edtition.  This requires registration via email.  They do not sell your email address.  It will perform automatic updates without user intervention.  Has a small enough memory footprint that it will not kill your machine.  There is also Avast!.  Avast! also requires registration.  But Avast! has a larger memory footprint than the others.  Still works great.  Lastly is AVG.  AVG is basically the same of the others, but does not automatically update itself, you have to initiate the update manually.  For some this may be a pain.

The third free alternative is Anti-spyware.  There are two that I like to use and they can be installed together if you find that you want that type of setup.  Spybot S&D and Ad-aware SE.  Both products clean spyware/malware from your system adequately.  Both have their advantages.

njoy and happy safe computing!

TMS

IE7 is it for you?

Internet Explorer 7, its here! I suggest you Get it!

Alot of people do not even know that are more then one web browser to view the internet.  Amazing as it may seem, I find this more true today than ever before.  More people are getting online.  People of all ages.

This weekend I went to work on fixing a router for a friend of my sisters.  The people have never had a computer before and bought a package deal from Dell.  A new laptop and wireless router and a DSL package from the local phone company.  These people were as nice as could be, but didnt know anything at all about the internet.  They use IE as it is what came with windows.  I am sure this is the case for many people.

Anyway, I would suggest getting IE7.  It's worth the download.

new blogging tool

I'm trying out Windows Live writer to see how it works in uploading and formatting entries into this blog.  It's still beta, but hey, the MS word plugin is not working well anymore, so lets try another way!

Vista again? When will he stop!

Windows Vista license agreement explained.  Again.  (

Article: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_licensing.asp

Happy reading!

make me invisible please

Remember the Harry Potter movie where Harry get the cloak of invisibility handed down to him from his father?  Well…….  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6064620.stm

Really neat stuff!

Slow Saturday

Haven’t done much of anything today.  I did however, bring in the enormous amount of music CD's i had in my car to try and sort through them and determine which ones I truely listen to when in the car.  I counted them.  47 CD's.  Some in CD holders other stacked in a open space below my head unit (the stereo).  Okay, I admit that is a bit many music CD's to have hanging around in the car, and I also admit that I dont listen to all of them hence me bringing them into the house and sort through them.
I am a music freak, I love new music.  Notice the keyword, NEW.  I have, probably, over 1000 cd's in my collection, and this does not mean that each CD has one album, most of my CD's are mp3 CD's and contain more than one album.
It all started in early 2000.  I discovered MP3.com.  The now defunct website was a buttload of new talented artists trying to get noticed.  They posted their music on MP3.com for free.  I started downloading all kinds of music.  at the time, most of what I was getting was Downtempo/Triphop.  Don’t confuse Triphop with the now popular Hip Hop.  They are vastly different.  I am now a member of http://www.emusic.com.  I discovered them in 2003.  I pay $20.00 a month and get 90 downloads.  Most every month, I use all my downloads.  That is 1080 songs a year, and I have been doing it for 3 years.  You do the math.
Anyway, I hope to sort through my 30 + CD’s from the car and dwindle them down to approximately 15 or so.
Listening to my music.
TMS