Articles
Programs You Should Be Using
Are you still using the pitiful software that came with your new PC, you know, the programs that the manufacturer was paid to install?
Well, there are much better options out there, often available for free. However, installing unknown software can be hazardous to your PC (see our article: 'Top 10 Mistakes'), so we've provided a list of some of our favorite software here, all reasonably well-behaved and spyware free!
PC Security
The only software utility we recommend for PC security is basic antivirus software. Avoid the large security suite packages like the plague.
For home use AVG Free Edition is reliable and well behaved, and the price is right! For business use, consider CA Antivirus, which is small, efficient, and reliable.
Web Browser
Internet Explorer is standard on most new PCs. However, it isn't safe for general web surfing, as it can allow bad websites to do bad things to your PC when you visit. See our article 'Top 10 Mistakes' for more details.
So instead just download and use the Mozilla Firefox or Opera web browser (both free). You can visit all the same websites with these browsers without having to worry about security. Also, these alternate web browsers often have more features than Internet Explorer.
Please note that Firefox and Opera don't actively protect your PC; they are simply a safe way of 'surfing' websites
Gmail (Google Mail) has the most storage, the most features (calendar, documents, photo albums and more) and there is no program to set up or troubleshoot. Gmail is web-based, so you can manage your mail from any computer or web-enabled device (phone, PDA). Unlike other webmail services, there are no annoying ads in your messages and only small text ads on some pages. And best of all it's free!
Data Backup
We use Acronis True Image. More details coming soon...
Photo Manager
There are many good programs to choose from, like Adobe Photoshop Elements and Kodak Easyshare, but we prefer Picasa.
Picasa, a free download from Google, is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC.
When you install Picasa, it will offer to locate photos on your PC, and then presents them in a list of folders organized by date. You can then edit your photos using a simple set of one-click effects and sliders that allow you to crop, adjust contrast, remove red-eye, and so forth.
Finally, you can easily add your favorites to virtual albums, which can then be burned to CD, emailed, uploaded to Google's web albums, or sent to a printing service. Easy and fun to use!
Picasa requires Windows 2000, XP, or Vista
Music Player
In our opinion no one comes close to Apple's iTunes software. Apple's iPods are the most popular portable music players largely due to iTunes. ITunes makes it easy to organize your music, burn it to CDs, purchase music online (as well as movies and TV shows), and synchronize all of it to an iPod.
After using iTunes, you'll cringe when you try to figure out the other music software out there, which is often confusing and full of bugs.
Other Good Stuff
File Archiving / Zip / Unzip : 7-Zip
PDF reader : PDF-Xchange Viewer
- Adam at Blue Nova Computing
