Software: Must Have Software….Free PT1

The advantage of computers these days is that when someone comes up with a Great idea, then 1000 others copy and release a product that can do basically the same functions as the original. That gives the average user a choice. The same way that in your car, you do NOT need to keep the factory radio, or at the Pharmacy you can generic over name brand medications, computer software has its own “alternative” choices to virtually all software. Of course not all alternatives are good alternatives, today we will cover some of the good ones.

WinDirStat ( http://windirstat.info/ (http://windirstat NULL.info/) )

WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Windows. It allows you to see how much space each file is taking up and see what files are eating up your hard drive space. It can do this either via size-ordered directory view, or as a color coded treemap.

As soon as you find the files that are taking up to much space, you can remove them with the built-in cleanup operations. This is like looking at your hard drive via the My Computer icon on your pc, except for the fact that you get way more detail here.

Foxit PDF Reader ( http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/ (http://www NULL.foxitsoftware NULL.com/pdf/reader/) )

Everyone is familiar with either the term PDF or with the name Adobe Reader, which is the program designed by Adobe for PDF. The Adobe program is the most common, because it is what 95% of sites that require you to view or download PDF point you to. However, the Adobe Acrobat program is not the only choice out there. A much better choice would be the Foxit PDF reader. What are the main differences with Foxit vs… Adobe.

- Foxit starts almost at an instant. Adobe is a slow annoying wait of 2 to 5 minutes depending on the age of your pc, where all you will do is watch the Adobe “Splash” (Opening) screen load.

- Adobe takes up a considerable more hard drive and memory than Foxit.

- On older systems that is something especially important to consider.

**Notes on installing Foxit

I would uninstall Adobe Acrobat 1st (all copies – as some people will find when they go to add / remove programs they will have Acrobat v4 and Acrobat v5, and sometimes even more) prior to installing Foxit, as Acrobat will keep fighting to be your default PDF program and continue to try and run. If were replacing it, then lets get rid of the old.
During the Foxit install you may see a prompted for a toolbar install (as of now its for the Ask.com or EBay toolbars), just make sure you uncheck the box that says “Do you want to install any toolbar, you just don’t need them.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware ( http://malwarebytes.org/ (http://malwarebytes NULL.org/) )

Eventually all users of a PC will get some form of an infection (Virus, Trojan, Worm), no matter how careful they are. Its like getting a cold, even if you take your Vitamin C and cover up and do all those things mom said to do growing up, you will get a cold eventually.

For all the programs that I’ve used for my own use and to recover infected systems for clients, Malwarebytes has been the most able to get all the germs out of a pc.

(From the Malwarebytes website) Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is an anti-malware application that can thoroughly remove even the most advanced malware. It includes a number of features, including a built in protection monitor that blocks malicious processes before they even start.

Recommendation: Online Radio Streaming

As a tech, especially one that spends allot of time in “dungeons” (otherwise known as server rooms) I need to find something to listen to while working 12, 15, 20 hours straight at a time (you would be surprised how long you can spend in a server room and not know it, maybe its the lack of windows and humans in most). So for me its Genome Music Project otherwise known as Pandora Radio. You can create your own radio stations, and …. well this piece from the Pandora About page explains better than i can

“With Pandora you can explore this vast trove of music to your heart’s content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings – new and old, well known and completely obscure – to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you.”

Pandora can be found at http://pandora.com/ (http://pandora NULL.com/) . You can register for a free account that will hold your selections for future use. The free account does have a short 30 sec add that comes up between songs, but that add is rare (As I write this I’ve been listening to Pandora for about 2 hours and so far one 30 sec add).

They do offer a paid service that says it eliminates the adds but since I see an add so rarely, I comfortably use the free service.

My current “stations” consist of

– Chicago (The band not the musical) Radio

– George Thorogood Radio (Hey I have to be “Bad to the bone”)

– Foreigner Radio

-Def Leppard Radio

-Going Under Radio (Evanescence)

*As always I do not work for Pandora Radio. Just passing on information, that I can recommend as a user.

Conflicker: Let me guess “April Fools” / Free Antivirus Choices

I don’t know if the latest version of Conflicker was just an April Fools joke, or if the joke is that all it will do today is download some files and that “Skynet” (Terminator movie reference) comes later. If nothing else I hope that all the hype concerning this latest version of Conflicker has severed to remind people that a computer needs to have some maintenance, just like a car. If you drove your car and never changed the oil or belts or tires, how long would your car actually run?

It is also important to have a good antivirus product installed on your pc. Once you get your antivirus software installed on your pc, you need to make sure that it is set up to update (There’s that word again!) on a regular (regular = no less than once a week or sooner)

I also understand that in these economic times that it may not always be possible to spend money on the computer, so here is a list of antivirus software that is offered by the manufacture free (“For home use”).

AVG FREE -http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition (http://free NULL.avg NULL.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition)

Avira – http://www.free-av.com/en/download/index.html (http://www NULL.free-av NULL.com/en/download/index NULL.html)

Avast – http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html (http://www NULL.avast NULL.com/eng/avast_4_home NULL.html)

All 3 of these have pay versions of their software, but for the average home user, the free version is all you will ever need. **The other thing to keep in mind is that you should never install / run more than one antivirus program on your pc. What will happen is that the programs will think they are each a virus and basically as they fight to see who wins your pc will not work right. So if you have an old antivirus and you would like to replace it, please make sure to uninstall the old version before installing the new antivirus.

Software Recommendation: Dimdim web conferencing software (Free for small groups)

I have for many years used WebEx or Gotomeeting for web conference and support. The need to connect to a pc and be able to control it, for the purpose of resolving whatever the issue is, is a need of most tech’s today. Additionally, being able to do a presentation or training class using my computer with clients all over the world at the same time is something that is considered necessary these days.

The issue is that WebEx (which is the most well known name) is expensive and Gotomeeting even though its not as costly still will run you at minimum $60 a month per user who needs access. This is where Dimdim comes in to play……here is how they describe themselves on their website

“Dimdim is a free web conferencing service where you can share your desktop, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via webcam with absolutely no download required to host or attend meetings.”

The only limitation for a free account is that you can only have up to 20 people in a web conference at any one time. For tech support or small business use 20 should be enough. If you need more than 20 they have pay for options that are (In my opinion) reasonably priced.

Dimdim can be found at http://www.dimdim.com/ (http://www NULL.dimdim NULL.com/)

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