Microsoft Office - how can I get a free copy, do I need it, what I can I use instead ?

Here's my latest good advice.

I have just been asked how to get a free or cheap copy of Microsoft Office.
Why I ask ?
"For Outlook for emails and Word for documents."

My answer is to use Thunderbird for emails. I've been using it for many years with no problems.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/download

Use Open Office for Word and Excel.
http://www.openoffice.org.au/  - well that's because I'm in Australia
http://www.openoffice.org/  - use this elsewhere.
Read more about it here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_OpenOffice

Open Office is similar to Microsoft Word and can read and save Word and Excel documents.

Use Chrome or Firefox or Opera as a web browser, rather than Internet Explorer (IE)
Firefox link -   https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
Opera link   - http://www.opera.com/
Google Chrome link - http://www.google.com/chrome/

Google Chrome is a lot better than Internet Explorer. I can sign in to me Gmail account and sync my Gmail, Calendar, Contacts and Bookmarks across every device, computer and phones.

In my opinion, Thunderbird is every bit as good as Outlook and it is free.
Open Office is every bit as good as Microsoft Office and it is free !

Cheers. Si.

Back up your Computer NOW. Windows XP and Windows 7. April 2014

Do you back up your information ?
You should. You must. If you lose all your files you will be very cross.

Let's start with the basics. USB sticks.
These things ...

Look at that - 4 Gigabyte of storage and they are CHEAP. Nowadays the minimum size is about 16 Gigabyte - that's huge. You can put so much on these things.

Go buy two or three and rotate them when you back up. Put them in a clear bag with a scrap of paper stating what's on the stick and a date - "all Word and Excel, April 2014"
I keep a 4 Gb stick for all 'My Pictures'. I have 5500 pictures, which takes up 1.5 Gb.

Plug one into a USB port. (USB stands for Universal Serial Bus).
Go to 'My Computer'.
Rename your stick so you know what it is when you plug it in.



Here I have called mine "backup usb".

Go to 'My Documents'.
Right click on your folders with your important files, and SEND them to the USB stick.



That's it. Easy. Your hard work backed up.

Back up all your Word and Excel documents.
Back up 'My Pictures'.
Back up 'My Music' on a separate big stick.

Here's mine. I do this once a month, maybe once a week if I am busy writing stuff.



Why ?
Hard Drives can crash. The bearings can fail. A fire. A theft.
USB sticks can also fail and die, so I have four and just keep taking turns with them.
You can carry all your work with you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Backup online - Google Drive and Microsoft Office Live.
You can back up your documents to free online storage sites such as Google Drive and Office Live. These are very easy to use. Drag and Drop or Copy and Paste.

https://drive.google.com/#my-drive
http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/

Google Drive is Google's free online document storage and editing centre. Free.

Office Live is Microsoft's free cloud storage.
Office Live is a plug in to Word, Excel etc. which will help you store and share your documents online. Free, of course.

I have my resume and a few other important things stored there in case my house gets burgled or burns down, and also to have them accessible from any computer online.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Backup online - Google Calender.
Seriously - Google Calendar can be your primary back up facility.
It's free. It syncs to all your Android phones and any computer anywhere. It's all in how you use it.

Create entries that repeat monthly.
Put all your info regarding ...
- your life
- your dog's vet needs and injection schedule
- all your phone bill and contract info
- all your electricity and gas bills and so on
I can put huge amounts of text info in these entries.
I started off with just one three monthly entry for gas, and one two monthly entry for electricity but it was too messy. Lump all similar things in the one monthly entry.

Now you will always have that info handy on any one month. I have...

- one entry for all my subscriptions - magazines, ambulance...
- one entry for all my dogs info - when born, died, adopted, injections...
- one entry for all my house bills - gas, electricity, water, rates...
- one entry for all my medical info - Medibank rates, glasses, injections, dentist ...
- one entry for all my car info - rego, insurance, date purchased and make ...
- one entry for all my mobile phone plans and rates and when my plans started...
- one entry for all my all the info regarding my jobs, date started, locker, holidays,
- one entry for all my major purchases as dumb as that may seem - just date, cost and what it was.
- one entry for all Resume so it is always on hand.

It's all in how you use it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Cloud Storage - Dropbox, OneNote, Simplenote  (and Evernote)  - Android phones, Windows XP and Windows 7.

* These days I use 'Dropbox' as my primary backup - it's just so easy and it's free up to a generous limit. I have now actually paid for an annual subscription for 1 TB of data storage.
The beauty of these applications is that they sync to my Android phones and my desktop computer.

Here's the links. 'Dropbox' on the Google Market and 'Dropbox' home page for your computer.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dropbox.android
https://www.dropbox.com/home

I have installed 'Dropbox' on my Android phone and on my computer. I have 'Dropbox' sync my photos to the cloud so that they appear on my computer as well pretty much instantly. I never have to worry about losing my photos again.

* I use Microsoft's 'OneNote' to keep all my text files and reminders. This is free, and syncs to my Android phone and my Windows computer desktop. It's a wonderful app.

Here's the links. 'OneNote' on the Google Market.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.onenote&hl=en

There is also a PC version to download to your computer.
https://www.onenote.com/download

* I have also just started using 'Simplenote' for Android and PC and I love it.
'Simplenote'  is a free cloud sync note-taking app. Yes, free, thanks to the staff at Automaticc.

I have many plain text files that I want to be able to see and write and edit in a simple interface and 'Simplenote' offers this beautifully.

Android    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.automattic.simplenote
PC            https://simplenote.com/

( As of June 2016 I no longer use or promote 'Evernote' due to their restriction of a two device limit, as well as the program becoming bloated and laggy. I have moved all my notes to  'OneNote' and 'Simplenote' . I have used 'Evernote' to keep my text files. This was free up to a limit and syncs to my Android phone and my Windows computer desktop.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Blogger.com.
Another great way to back up your stuff is to put it all in a blog like this.
I make a quick and easy Google Blog for every holiday, and send in posts by email to publish them  when I'm sitting near free WiFi by the pool of cafe. Then all my photos and diary are backed up and I can view them anywhere.

Read this post in Blogger Help about email posting - it's easy to do.
https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/41452?hl=en

This Blog, GFSL is pretty good evidence of using Google in yet another way for me to back up my stuff. I have all my collected ideas here, my links, my apps for my phones.

All my dog pictures are here...
http://montydaisyblog.blogspot.com.au/

Making a Google Blog is a very easy thing to do, and a lot of fun too.
See my post on how to do it...
http://genuinefreestuff.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/genuine-free-tip-start-your-own-website.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

External Hard drives.
I have an external hard drive for my main backup.
You can walk into any Tech Shop and they will have something you can just plug into a USB port and start.
Make sure you have your computer shop format and partition the drive.

I bought a Welland 3.5" External Hard Disc Drive (HDD) enclosure. $45 Australian.
This is just the storage box for the Hard Drive.

Inside that I put a Western Digital 500Gb Hard Drive. $105 Australian.
That's a lot of space, 500Gb. You can do many backups on that.


So for $150 AUD, I have all my entire computer backed up.

This is an update slipped in on 7Oct2009. I have just noticed these WD My Passport external drives that just plug into your USB port. This is definitely the way to go. I can buy these for $80.



Here's what to do.
Buy that stuff and plug it into a USB port, just like that USB stick above.
Rename that new drive.
I called mine the "BackupDrive" and made it the Q drive (Get Smart, Agent Q).

(Don't forget that you have to FORMAT and PARTITION that disc drive.
Quite frankly, seek help from the company you buy it off. It's pretty easy but you do have to know what you are doing, um, and I forgot to take screen shots when I did mine.)



Then I went to My Documents and SENT all my Excel and Word documents to the Q Drive, just like I did for the USB stick.




Then I went to Start - Accessories - System Tools - Backup.



And away we go.



next



next
Choose what you want now.



next
Find that Q drive.
Give your back up a meaningful name.


next
In this case, I had a floppy disc ready to create a boot disc, but you can skip that.



next



next
Now go walk the dog, have a beer, it's gonna take a long time.



next
This is the end result. Windows backups.



All safe and secure on that external drive.

If you need to RESTORE, it's much the same process.

If you want to know how much space you have left,
go to My Computer and right click on the Q Drive.
My full backup takes up 60Gb.



Click on Properties.



Good, plenty of space left.
When it fills up, I will delete the older backups.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll think of yet another way, someday soon....


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, I've gone to all this effort because this is IMPORTANT.
Good luck, and back it up now. Si.
All checked for links and relevance. April 2014. Now more important then ever !

How To check what programs are running on your computer with Process Explore. Windows XP and Windows 7. April 2014

Here's a program I added to my boot menu. Process Explorer.

As a techie geek, I am often curious as to what programs are running on my computer.

This is the link to Microsoft Sysinternal Process Explorer, to give it its full name.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx



I added Process Explorer into my boot using GlarySoft Quick Startup.
http://www.glarysoft.com/quick-startup/

Now when my computer boots, I can see exactly what's running and hogging my system resources.
I can also see what needs to be deleted from my start up menu.
Almost everything these days adds yet another program to your start up menu.

Cheers. Si.
Checked and still relevant in April 2014. I still use these on my Windows 7 rig.

PC Security Free Software for Windows XP and Windows 7 - April 2014

This page is a summary of all the free PC Security Software that I have found and use.  You will also see screen captures of this stuff running on my own computer.
AVG free anti-virus - that's the link.
http://www.avgfree.com.au/

"AVG Free provides you with basic antivirus and anti-spyware protection for Windows and is available to download for free."

Avira free Anti-virus - that's the link.
http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

"Basic protection
Protects your computer against dangerous viruses, worms, Trojans and costly dialers.


 BitDefender anti-virus.
http://www.bitdefender.com.au/solutions/free.html


CCleaner - that's the link to download from FileHippo.
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner

"CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!"running on my computer. I run 
this once a week to clean out my junk.



 Comodo free firewall - that's the link.
http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Malwarebytes - that's the link.
http://www.malwarebytes.org/downloads/

"Malwarebytes is a site dedicated to fighting malware. Malwarebytes has developed a variety of tools that can identify and remove malicious software from your computer. When your computer becomes infected, Malwarebytes can provide the needed assistance to remove the infection and restore the machine back to optimum performance."

It's free, but you can also buy a paid subscription.
Download the free version, but always manually obtain updates.
running on my computer. This is serious gear. Use this to remove those nasty viruses.
I also use their website to help debug and devirus friends computers.



Microsoft Update .** April 2014 - no longer valid. Windows Update is included in the Control Panel.

This may seem a bit redundant or unnecessary. But it's important.
I had to help fix a friends computers recently.
They hadn't received any Microsoft security updates for years. There computer was a mess of viruses, and not having any Microsoft Security Updates for five years certainly did not help.

Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus - that's the link
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/security-essentials-download#dlbutton

This is Microsoft's own free anti-virus program.
To quote Microsoft...

" Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
Microsoft Security Essentials is a free download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple."

Microsoft Windows Defender - All gone now. See the post above.

 Online Virus Scanners
BitDefender QuickScan
http://www.bitdefender.com.au/scanner/online/free.html

ESET Online Antivirus Scanner
http://www.eset.com/int/home//products/online-scanner/

Microsoft Security Scanner
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-gb/default.aspx

TrendMicro HouseCall Free online virus scan
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/au/?WT.mc_id=2008HP_TRC_HouseCall

Zone Alarm firewall - that's the link.
http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-free-antivirus-firewall.htm

"ZoneAlarm pioneered the personal computer firewall used by over 60 million people worldwide, and our parent company, Check Point Software, invented the enterprise firewall used by every member of the Fortune 100. We know how to keep the bad guys out."

So there you go. That's a good start to protecting your computer, all for free.
Load it up. Si.
Checked April 2014 for link and relevance. Still valid for Windows XP and Windows 7

Basic Computer Maintenance. April 2014. Windows XP and Windows 7

Right then, this stuff is important for basic computer maintenance.
It's all easy. It's all one click stuff. Read it. Do it.

Clean up your hard drive with CCleaner.
Download and install and use CCleaner. That's the link to download it from FileHippo.
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner

This is my post on using setting up a computer with free software, including CCleaner.
This is my post on how to use CCleaner to clean and remove browser files.

I use it daily or weekly to clean out my browsing history and to clean out my junk before I backup my computer NOW !
I also use it to check my Registry.
I also use it to uninstall all those tool bars that sneak in to my web browsers, and other programs I no longer want or need.

Check and clean up your boot with Quick Startup.
Use Quick Startup from Glarysoft to see what's running and what you might want to turn off.
http://www.glarysoft.com/quick-startup/

This is my post on Quick StartUp so you can see what it looks like.
I can browse my Start Up menu, delete or add items as appropriate.
I can add programs such Process Explorer to the boot menu to see what programs are running.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

De-fragment your hard drive.
Use plain old Windows Defrag or Defraggler, once every 6 months or even per year.

See my post on How to defrag your hard drive.
Run CCleaner first to clean out all your rubbish, then defrag your hard drive.

Over time as your load up new programs and delete others, your files will become sprawling and bloated. You computer will start storing large file over many areas, not just in the one spot.

De-fragmenting a hard drive puts all these files in the one spot and makes it much quicker to load and find files. It's good basic maintenance.

Back up your hard drive.
I have devoted a big post to this topic. Please read Back up your computer NOW !
This most basic way is to copy all the stuff in 'My Documents' to USB sticks.
The next easiest way is to buy one of those 'WD My Passports' and just plug it in. It's a one button backup and it's cheap enough and very easy.

Keep your anti-virus program up to date.
See this post for a free anti-virus program - Free Anti-Virus programs.
If you're not sure which one, go for free Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus.
Download and install and make sure you check for updates every day. EVERY DAY.

Keep your Microsoft Windows Updates turned ON and up to date.
Make sure you have your Windows Updates turned ON.
Check by clicking on Start Button-Control Panel-Security Center and make sure Automatic Updates is ON.

If you have had these switched off, then you are missing all Microsoft's security updates, program updates, Malicious Software Removal Tool updates, and so on.

File extensions - know what they are
Here are some of the more common file extension and what they mean.
Internet:
* htm/html - Hyper Text Markup (language)

MS Windows program files:
* .accdp - Microsoft Access File
* .doc - MS Word document '97-2003 version
* .docx -MS Word document - 2004 and later versions
* .dot - MS Word Template - '97-2003 version
* .dotx - MS Word Template - 2004 and later
* .pps - Microsoft Powerpoint Show
* .ppt - Microsoft Powerpoint Presentation
* .pub - MS Publisher file
* .rtf - MS Wordpad file
* .txt - Notepad file
* .xls - MS Excel - '97-2003 version
* .xlsx -MS Excel - 2004 and later

Movie files:
* .avi - Audio Video Interleave
* .flv - Flash Video File
* .mpeg/mpg - Moving Picture Experts Group
* .mp4 - MPEG-4 Video File
* .mov - Quicktime movie Format
* .swf - Macromedia Flash file

Picture/graphics files:
* .bmp - bitmap
* .cpt - Corel Photo Paint
* .gif - Graphics Interchange Format
* .jpg - Joint Photographic Experts Group
* .png - portable Network Graphics
* .psd - Adobe Photo Shop
* .tif - Tagged Image File format

Sound files:
* .mid - Musical Instrument Digital Interface MIDI-sequention Sound
* .mp3 - MPEG Audio Stream Layer 3
* .wav - Waveform Audio

Vector Graphics files:
* .ai - Adobe Illustrator
* .cdr - Corel Draw
* .eps - Encapsulated Postscript
* .pdf - Portable Document Format

Other files:
* .bat - batch job files
* .exe - Executable file / program file
* .pdf -Portable Document Format - Opens with Acrobat Reader
* .zip - compressed/archive file
* .ttf - True Type Font file

Pretty Basic. Cheers, Si.
Checked April 2014 for link and relevance. Still valid for Windows XP and Windows 7

Free Software for Windows XP and Windows 7 PCs - April 2014

This page is a summary of all the cool free software I have found and tried myself.
Each heading is the link to that site to download the software. Go nuts.

April 2014. This was my second ever post for this website. It's time for a revamp and to check relevance of some of this Genuine Free Stuff.

Please note that support for Windows XP ends April 8, 2014.
See these links to Microsoft if you haven't made the move to Windows 7 yet.

http://support.microsoft.com/ph/1173/en-au and this one too
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/eos

7-Zip for zipping and unzipping files.
http://www.7-zip.org/

"7-Zip is a file archiver with a high compression ratio."
running on my computer



Audacity. The Free, Cross-Platform Sound Editor.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

"Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems."running on my computer



Autoruns
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

"This utility, which has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor, shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them.
These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys.
You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more.Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me  and XP."

running on my computer



Belarc Advisor 
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

"The Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks, and displays the results in your Web browser."


running on my computer - this is pretty cool. It gives a breakdown of all the hardware and software on your computer. A truly essential look at exactly what's going on under the hood.






BootRacer 1.0
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/BootRacer.shtml

This one is fun. Install and customise and reboot and race the clock.
** April 2014 - still valid if you run XP. My boot time in Windows 7 is a few unnoticeable seconds - one good reason to make the move.

"The BootRacer application was designed to be a small tool that will allow you to check your Windows boot speed.
Race your Windows boot using BootRacer and check your boot rating. If your computer boot time less than one minute you will get Excellent rating! Otherwise you need to speed up your Windows boot!"
running on my computer



Celestia - updated to SourceForge April 2014
http://sourceforge.net/projects/celestia/

"The free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions.
Celestia runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X."
Words don't do it justice. this is a cool piece of free software. You can get lost in it for hours.
The picture doesn't do it justice either. You can put on spaceships from Star Wars or Star Trek and all sorts of cool things. I have the Death Star orbiting Earth's Moon.
running on my computer





DVD Fab Decrypter -updated April 2014 to Softpedia.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/CD-DVD-Rip-Other-Tools/DVDFab-HD-Decrypter.shtml

"DVDFab HD Decrypter 5.1.0.0 (October 10, 2008)
DVDFab HD Decrypter is a simple version of DVDFab Platinum.
It copies entire DVD movie to hard disk, and removes all the protections (CSS, RC, RCE, APS, UOPs and Sony ARccOS) while copying.
It also comes with full HD-DVD and Blu-ray support (Removes AACS)."

running on my computer

End It All  - updated April 2014
http://www.docsdownloads.com/enditall-1.htm

"EndItAll is an ultra powerful Windows process killer than attempts to rid your system of those files that have either frozen your system or simply refuse to budge.
However, unlike Windows very basic process manager, it also indicates to what programs each process relates to which stops you shutting down anything essential which for me, is the real beauty of this program."
running on my computer. This is a very useful program to kill annoying programs, before you then go hunting them to uninstall them. Be warned, this is a powerful program.



FastStone Image Viewer. 
http://www.faststone.org/

******** The only free program I have found that will save a .JPG as a .PDF

"An image browser, converter and editor that supports all major graphic formats."running on my computer



FileHippo.com Update Checker 
http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

"The Update Checker will scan your computer for installed software, check the versions and then send this information to FileHippo.com to see if there are any newer releases.
These are then neatly displayed in your browser for you to download."
running on my computer - this is a pretty cool free program to help you keep other free programs up to date. I would call this an essential program.



FLV player.  link updated April 2014.
http://flv-player.us/?src=mdv

"FLV Player is a standalone utility to play Adobe Flash Video (FLV and H.264 / MPEG-4) files with."
Combine this with Firefox DownloadHelper to save and watch YouTube videos **April 2014  - redundant now due to the many changes to Firefox and YouTube. The program still works though.

running on my computer



Google Earth - link updated April 2014
http://www.google.com/earth/

running on my computer. This is a must-have program.




  Hamsin Clipboard
http://www.iisr-cnc.com/hamsin/

A three-in-one easy-to-use clipboard extension utility that allows:
   - tracking clipboard history of the last ten clips which can be later
      returned back to the clipboard or directly pasted into applications,
   - pasting several copied clips automatically one after another or merged together,
   - saving favorite or commonly used clips for future pasting.

Here it is running on my computer.


Inkscape
http://www.inkscape.org/en/

"An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface.

It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development."

running on my computer

Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder. Seriously.
** April 2014- still good for Windows 7
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/Magical-Jelly-Bean-Keyfinder.shtml

The MJBKF will retrieve your Windows product key from your registry, for example.



"The Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is a freeware utility that retrieves your Product Key used to install windows from your registry.

Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder will work on any system of the following type: Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Windows Vista, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007.
It now has the options to copy the key to clipboard, save it to a text file, or print it for safekeeping."

mpTrim -
http://www.mptrim.com/

"mpTrim is a simple and easy to use MP3 editor. Use it to improve your MP3 collection."
This is useful for making ring tones for your mobile phone.

Microsoft Office Live Workspace - now OneDrive.
**April 2014 - old, old, old. Sorry about that. This has all migrated to Microsoft OneDrive
https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-gb/

No screen shots as I don't use this... but I might sample it.

Microsoft Virtual PC -link updated April 2014.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24439

Woo Hoo. This is a nifty program. Free too.
Thanks to Cory down at Infinity Computer for showing me this one. He's a top bloke.

"Save time and money as Virtual PC allows you to maintain the compatibility of legacy and custom applications during migration to new operating systems and increases the efficiency of support, development, and training staffs.

With Microsoft® Virtual PC 2007, you can create and run one or more virtual machines, each with its own operating system, on a single computer. This provides you with the flexibility to use different operating systems on one physical computer. "

Running on my computer. I am setting up a Virtual PC for running old DOS games. Sigh, yes it's true.



I use this to play old legacy games like Duke Nukem 3D which require specific sound cards and video cards.

Open Office .
http://www.openoffice.org/

This is an essential download. It's all free. If you are having any troubles with or can't afford Microsoft Word and Excel, grab this for free instead.
"OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more."


"It is available in many languages and works on all common computers.
It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages.
It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose."


Opera Web Browser
http://www.opera.com/

"Opera is the only Web browser that comes complete with everything you need to be productive, safe and fast online."

running on my computer - I had to resort to Opera when I was trying to write a Blog on the MMC website using WordPress. I had compatibility issues between WordPress, and Firefox and IE7 web browsers. Opera came to my rescue.




Partition Logic.
http://partitionlogic.org.uk/about/index.php

This is a very handy program for partitioning you hard drive.
It's a good idea to partition your hard drive on your PC.
It's a good idea to keep the C drive for all your programs, and then pick an arbitrary letter, say the Q drive (Get Smart agent Q) for all of My Documents. When you Backup Your PC NOW, you can back up just the drive that you want to. This will save you space and time on that big external hard drive.
If you have just bought yourself a nice new PC, but didn't think to partition your hard drive, then grab yourself Partition Logic to do the job.

"Partition Logic is a free hard disk partitioning and data management tool. It can create, delete, erase, format, defragment, resize, copy, and move partitions and modify their attributes. It can copy entire hard disks from one to another.

Partition Logic is free software, available under the terms of the GNU General Public License. It is based on the Visopsys operating system. It boots from a CD or floppy disk and runs as a standalone system, independent of your regular operating system.

Partition Logic is intended to become a free alternative to such commercial programs as Partition Magic, Drive Image, and Norton Ghost."

Process Explorer -  April 2014 - still very valid.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

"Ever wondered which program has a particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded.
The Process Explorer display consists of two sub-windows.
The top window always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window depends on the mode that Process Explorer is in: if it is in handle mode you'll see the handles that the process selected in the top window has opened; if Process Explorer is in DLL mode you'll see the DLLs and memory-mapped files that the process has loaded.
Process Explorer also has a powerful search capability that will quickly show you which processes have particular handles opened or DLLs loaded."

running on my computer - a massively useful program to see exactly what is running. I use this quite a bit. I often run a check using this nifty program, just to see what's running.



Quick Startup. By Glarysoft .
http://www.glarysoft.com/quick-startup/
** April 2014 - still very valid. I use this a fair bit on my Windows 7 PC.

Here's my latest find. It's a free start-up clean-up program called Quick Sartup.

"Quick StartUp organizes applications that auto-run using Registry, Startup folders in the Start menu and Win.ini file.

Do you have a ton of programs that start automatically each time Windows starts? Surely you are not using all of them right away, so there is no sense waiting for all of them to load and to start at the hourglass. Quick Startup allows you inspect, edit, temporary disable or delete such programs.

When you select a startup entry in the list, Quick StartUp displays detailed information on the program in the Details box at the bottom of the window.

You can easily determine whether or not you wish to have the program started on the basis of the Product name and Company. If you have never heard of the company or the product, then the entry is probably not needed.

Click the check box in front of an entry to clear it, and the program will no longer be started the next time you start Windows. In this way, you can find out for certain whether the entry is needed."
Running on my computer. This is a brilliant program for keeping your boot clean and fast.



If you click the link at the very bottom that says "More Information", it will take you to an online library of most known programs and how relevant they are to your start-up.



Go get it. It's essential stuff.

QuickTime 
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

"Create an immersive, interactive experience for your customers using a variety of media types and formats beyond just audio and video.
The QuickTime file format is a track-based, container-like format that enables you to combine almost any media (audio, video, still images, text, VR, chapters and even alternate languages) in a single movie.
What’s more, you can automate your digital media workflow on both Mac and Windows with AppleScript and Automator support."

running on my computer - it pays to keep these free programs up to date.

RealPlayer - link updated April 2014
http://www.real.com.au/#choice

"Key Features
Support all major formats
1 click download & record of web videos
Limited audio & video control
Limited Access to Movie Library 200+ movies & TV series
Ads-supported viewing."

running on my computer - it pays to keep these free programs up to date.
** You can use this to then create a playlist of downloaded YouTube videos.



Revo Uninstaller- link updated April 2014
http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

"Revo Uninstaller helps you to uninstall software and remove unwanted programs installed on your computer even if you have problems uninstalling and cannot uninstall them from "Windows Add or Remove Programs" control panel applet.
Revo Uninstaller is a much faster and more powerful alternative to "Windows Add or Remove Programs" applet!
With its advanced and fast algorithm, Revo Uninstaller analyzes an application's data before uninstall and scans after you uninstall an application.
After the program's regular uninstaller runs, you can remove additional unnecessary files, folders and registry keys that are usually left over on your computer.
Even if you have a broken installation, Revo Uninstaller scans for an application's data on your hard disk drives and in the Windows registry and shows all found files, folders and registry keys so you can delete them."

Running on my computer. Ya gotta have this if you need to dig a pesky program out of the registry. This tool is the gear. Have a look at that pic below. Nothing else I know of will let me tick all the registry items to remove. Go get it.




Sib Icon Editor .
http://www.sibcode.com/icon-editor/index.htm

"Sib Icon Editor is a free icon utility for Windows.
It allows to create and edit icon images and manage icon files and libraries."

running on my computer. I use this a bit for editing PNG files. I used it to make my GFSL icon.


Softpedia
http://www.softpedia.com/

A wonderful site for searching for free software.
You will find lots of good things here.

Stickies - yellow sticky notes.
http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/

• Once on screen, stickies will remain where placed until closed, even through reboots
• Stickies appearance can be customised; fonts, colours and buttons may be changed, and styles saved. Stickies can be resized.
• Stickies can snap to each other and to the sides of the screen to keep them neatly lined up
• Stickies can be attached to a web site, document or folder so they only show when it's on screen
• Stickies can be hidden for a certain period, until a specified date and time, or to wake every day, week or month, to act as reminders.
• Stickies can have alarms set to ensure you notice them at a point you choose
• Stickies works with Windows Vista
• Stickies is small and simple, it writes to a single text file, and does not alter the registry
• ...and Stickies is completely free!

running on my computer. This is very handy. Donate the man a few bucks. You lucky Mac users should have this installed anyway.



TreeSize Free .
http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

** April 2014 - still very valid. Even with a terabyte drive, it's good to know just how much stuff you have accumulated and maybe need to delete.

"Every hard disk is too small if you just wait long enough.
TreeSize Free tells you where precious space has gone to.
TreeSize Free can be started from the context menu of a folder or drive and shows you the size of this folder, including its subfolders.
You can expand this folder in Explorer-like style and you will see the size of every subfolder. Scanning is done in a thread, so you can already see results while TreeSize Free is working.
The space, which is wasted by the file system, can be displayed and the results can be printed in a report."
running on my computer - a very useful program to see where all that space has gone
Give it time to run. There is a tiny status bar at top left that is easy to miss.




Windows in a box 2.0
** April 2014 - still very valid if you are running XP.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Windows-Widgets/System-Utilities/Windows-in-a-box.shtml

"Access all the features of windows xp on your desktop.
Ever get tired of searching for a setting inside the control panel?"
running on my computer. I use this a little bit when I am digging in the guts of my operating system.


"Inside Windows XP are hundreds of settings that require endless clicking through the Operating System that can get really frustrating. Windows in a box was designed to eliminate all that.

Sits on your desktop, easy to navigate, and puts an end to all the frustration of endless searching for settings.
Spyware, Adware and Malware free. Requires little memory to run, and nothing to install."

ZMatrix.. The coolest piece of software ever. EVER.
http://zmatrix.sourceforge.net/index.html#Download

"ZMatrix is an animated desktop background which displays streaming characters in a style similar to what was used in the movie 'The Matrix'." This is dead cool.
running on my computer



Now there's a of of free stuff to keep your busy for a while.
Cheers. Si.