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.

My Dropbox is full, how do I fit more in ? - or - How do I shrink all the pictures in my Dropbox to fit more in ?

Here's my latest very useful advice - read carefully and understand - dedicated to Grace and her full Dropbox account.

To fit more pictures onto your phone and into your 'Dropbox', do this...

Dropbox link - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dropbox.android&hl=en

1. Go to you camera on your phone and go to Settings and look for Resolution.

If it is up at the maximum, select a setting that is a lot lower. This will make you pictures smaller in size in terms of Megabytes or Kilobytes.

If you pics are over 1 or 2 MB, they are too big to store or email. Try to keep at around 500 KB.

2. Change the resolution to something a bit smaller

3. Go to your Gallery and find a pic and touch on it to bring up the details. I use 'QuickPic' as my gallery app on my Android phone.

QuickPic link - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alensw.PicFolder&hl=en

Check the size of that pic. Mine is 281 Kilobytes which is a good size. If you see 1.5 or 2.3 MB, for example, that pic is too big to email and hogs up the space on your phone and 'Dropbox'.

4 . Download Batch Picture Resize for free. I wonderful and easy program to use.
http://www.rw-designer.com/picture-resize

Copy and paste it into your Dropbox folder on your computer. 

Here's the link for Dropbox if you don't have it already
https://www.dropbox.com/

You should be looking at this. The Dropbox folder, and then Camera Uploads...

.4 and a bit -  If you don't often download programs, here's what to do...

First click on that link ...

Second, see where you computer wants to save it - some random place from the last download or to Desktop or a place of your choosing.

Find Dropbox and Camera Uploads and choose that spot to download the program.

Third, you should now see the program here in Dropbox - Camera Uploads...

5 . Copy and paste the 'PhotoResize' program into your Dropbox - Camera Uploads folder, if you downloaded it onto your desktop or somewhere else..

6 . Read the instructions, but I'll make it easy for you. Right click on the program file and rename.

I have renamed this one as PhotoResize40PQ75IO.exe

PhotoResize40PQ75IO     - you can copy and past this to rename it. Keep the .exe on the end if you see it there.

** Aside. On my computer in Documents or Libraries, I set my Tools-Folder Options-View- untick "Hide extensions for know file types". This hides or shows the .exe at then end of a file name. This helps me keep track of what a file actually is, such an an executable file, .exe, or a batch job, .bat, a picture, .jpg, and so on. For more, read here ...   http://filext.com/     **

This means - reduce to Percent 40% of original, at Quality 75%, I=overwrite original file, O=don't wait for the Enter button prompt (makes it a tad quicker).

** Warning - experiment first with one picture. Try these

PhotoResize80PQ75IO  - shrink to 80 percent of original. Keep the .exe on the end.
PhotoResize60PQ75IO  - shrink to 60 percent of original

7. Drag and drop groups of pictures on it

Now all your pictures will be smaller - taking up much less space in 'Dropbox' - once it syncs.
You will not have quite as good a quality if you zoom right in, but you will have a lot more space.

** Warning again - experiment first with one picture. Try these

PhotoResize80PQ75IO  - shrink to 80 percent of original. Keep the .exe on the end.
PhotoResize60PQ75IO  - shrink to 60 percent of original

This is an example of  PhotoResize40PQ75IO - My original photo is 481 KB in size...

Drag and drop - very easy.

End result is a picture at only 33 KB in size. This is a bit too small, and looks grainy if I zoom right in. Aim to bring your pictures down to about 500 KB, if they are over 1 MB.

** Warning one - this will use up your data allowance as Dropbox syncs.

** Warning two - keep track of which pics you shrink. Maybe make a new folder called "Shrunk pics" or start making lots of folders to sort your memories / holidays / pets / family etc.

You WILL thank me for this one ! Cheers. Si.