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Free
Software For a Variety of Computer Needs...
One feature of the net that I hope
never goes away, is the availability of free software. I actively
use a variety of free products for everything from Anti Virus, to Photo
editing. Mind you, these are not programs that are crippled, time limited,
or otherwise dumbed down. These are just plain good applications. As good,
and often better, than the stuff you would pay for.
People are often skeptical of free
things, and ask me how these products can be offered for nothing.
The answer usually falls into one of two categories:
1. A company offers a
"free for personal use" version of it's product in order to
promote it's enterprise or "Pro" version of the same product
(AVG Anti Virus for example), or
2. A net citizen, with the
skills and the inclination, simply wants to offer the public something
he/she thinks will benefit the net community (Spybot Search and
Destroy).
So here you are, a list and short
description of my favorite free programs, and the link to where to
download them:
|
Category
|
Product
|
Description
|
Link
|
| Anti
Virus/Anti Malware |
Microsoft Security Essentials |
Free basic antivirus/antimalware from
Microsoft. Automatic updates, regularly scheduled scans
etc. But less of a burden on the system than
the most popular commercial products. |
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/ |
|
Malware Cleaner |
Malwarebytes |
Malwarebytes is a free spyware/malware
cleanup tool. The free version is great for cleaning those false
"Security Alert" popup infections in particular. |
http://www.malwarebytes.org/ |
| Backup |
Cobian Backup |
Backup is a confused field. There are
a zillion products, free and otherwise, with a host of different
features, interfaces and even vocabulary.
Choosing the best one will depend on your specific needs.
What I like about Cobian is it's simplicity. It merely copies
whatever folder or folders you designate to whatever backup location
you designate. You can choose to compress files into a standard Zip
format. It
also includes it's own automated scheduler. |
http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm |
| Real
Time Weather Info |
Weather Watcher |
Lots of people like WeatherBug, but I
hate all the popup ads. Weather Watcher does the same thing but
without all the ads. |
www.singerscreations.com/AboutWeatherWatcher.asp |
| Remote
Desktop Access |
LogMeIn |
This is another free version of a
popular for pay program (in this case "GoToMyPC"). The
idea is that you can connect to your PC from any web browser, and
remotely control it from there. Among other things, it's a pretty good way to check your
email on the road, and still have your desktop inbox up to date at
all times. |
https://secure.logmein.com/home.asp?lang=en |
| Photo
Management and Editing |
Picasa3 |
This product is almost "Apple-esque
is it's combination of simplicity and powerful features.
And it's from the folks at Google!
It makes managing your photo collection almost automatic.
Basic photo editing is as intuitive as it can be. |
http://picasa.google.com/ |
| Search
Engine Toolbar |
Google Toolbar |
Everyone knows Google is a great
search engine. Many folks also know about the mapping feature. Type
in an address, and get a map to the location. But did you also know
that it's a great phone book? How about reverse number lookup? Dictionary? Got it covered. Calculator? You bet.
My personal favorite is unit conversion.
Type in "23 inches in millimeters" and out pops
484.2! |
http://toolbar.google.com/T4/index_pack.html |
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