Software, Downloads and Utilities

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The Google Pack allows you to choose any or all of the following important software : Picasa 2 (Photo Organiser); Mozilla Firefox (free Internet Explorer alternative - internet Browser); Spyware Doctor (free antispyware) Adobe PDF file reader; Real Player (Music and video player); Skype (Free voice and video calls); Norton Security Scan, Star Office ( free alternative to Microsoft Office ) Google Earth (see your own house from satellite) Google Talk (chat to others), Google Desktop - (fast searching of your hard disk) plus some great art work and screen savers. You can even get a link which enables you to check for the latest versions. n.b. some of these are BIG downloads which, without Broadband, would take a long time. But it is all completely free.

You might think that Windows is a complete Operating System that doesn't need any additions in order to make it do everything you ever need to do. Although many additional programs are unnecessary - and may even create problems for you, there are a few which are important and some which I find to be very useful. This page is intended to help you choose which might be worth getting.

Definitions :
Freeware : Totally free.
Shareware : Try before you buy. It might be 'crippled' or time limited or just nag you. to buy or it might be fully functional.
Commercial software : You buy it from a shop or download it off the net and pay in the usual way..

N.B. Not all software has to be downloaded. Providing you are on Broadband you can use a number of programs 'on line'. These include word processors such as Buzzword, Google Docs and a whole plethora of programs from www.zoho.com. All are free and provide on line storage for your files. Files can be shared with others and you can pick them up from ANY PC in the world that has an internet connection

Downloading
There are numerous sites from which you can download. Programs might be Freeware, Shareware or require payment. Freeware is completely free. Perhaps there are no strings attached or it may be a 'Lite' version with a suggestion that you buy the 'Heavy' version. Or they may be given away by companies such as Microsoft e.g. Media Player, Outlook Express etc. Shareware is usually free to use but may have a 'nag' suggesting that you pay a fee in order to continue to use it. Other programs can only be downloaded on payment of a fee. In the UK many free and shareware programs can be found on 'Cover Disks' of magazines. This can save a big download. A large program, such as Windows Media Player (comes with XP) might take an hour or more to download if you are using a slow connection. Page 17 of this site gives an indication of the variety of cover disks and what they contain. Download sites include www.webattack.com (very good - look for their Top 100) http://www.opensourcewindows.org/ www.ded.com/nonags, www.computeractive.co.uk/downloads http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp http://www.mgshareware.com http://www.zdnet.com/downloads and www.download.com www.google.com/downloads/ is a useful site for Google's very good free products such as Picasa, Google Earth, Google Talk, Firefox and Ad-aware etc http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,124883,pg,5,00.asp is another good free sowftware download site

In my view you definitely need some sort of Media Player, Zip file decompressor, PDF file reader, Anti Virus, Firewall ,Web Browser and Email client. If you do not have the MS Office Suite you may need 'Reader' programs for Word, Excel , Powerpoint and similar files you receive. These can be downloaded from the Microsoft link above. Take a look at http://www.ramsinks.com/software.asp All the best free and shareware essentials

For people with Windows XP and digital video cameras Microsoft do a free Movie Maker program. Now on version 2 and said to be better than the one that came with XP you can get it from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com if you don't mind an 8Mb download . Computer Active gave it 5 stars

There are quite a few additional programs specifically designed for XP See HERE (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/)

A nice one to check on your hard disk is called HDD from http://www.computeractive.co.uk/vnunet/downloads/2128643/hdd-health

I regularly use most of these IMPORTANT UTILITIES The star rating is mine

The addresses for specific programs are:

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/ List the links to 30 essential a free pieces of software. All good stuff.
http://pgoh13.free.fr/software_progs.php Is a great site for free utilities recommended by a friend in Paris *****
www.grisoft.com (AVG Free anti virus) *** or
www.avast.com (Avast Free anti virus) *****
www.computeractive.co.uk/downloads/1154534 Spybot Search and Destroy ***
http://messenger.msn.com (Microsoft Messenger Chat/video conferencer) *****
www.zonelabs.com (Zone Alarm Firewall) ***
www.winzip.com (file compressor, uncompressor) *** You NEED a file unzipper of some kind
www.lavasoftusa.com (Ad-aware anti spy anti marketing program) ***
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com (various Windows programs) ***** Set it to update automatically.
http://www.macromedia.com//go/getflashplayer/ If a site says you need the Flash Player *****
http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ie.html *** Tells Internet Explorer users if a site on a Google search list is safe
www.jv16.org (Regcleaner) or you can use CCleaner for this amd much else.
http://www.sofotex.com/. Regscrub XP Register Cleaner ***
www.apple.com (Quicktime movie/video player) ****
www.adobe.com (Acrobat PDF file Reader) *** You will need one of these. A lighter version is Foxit Reader ****.
Spybot Search and Destroy. Probably the best free spyware remover.

USEFUL TO HAVE

Google provides a number of programs which can be download via the link at the top of this page.

Googlemail A great web based email progran. Get you mail anywhere in the world ****
www.osalt.com. This is a great site for 'Open Source" software. Open source means they allow anyone to download it.
www.digiguide.com Digiguide is a software/database for displaying information on ALL the TV channels available....which is invaluable if you use satellite or Freeview TV. Being a computer database it is interactive. It is continuously updated, with a charge of £8.99p per annum. There is a 60 day free trial.
http://www.my-blood-pressure.com/ Keeps track of, and displays, blood pressure readings. You can input directly via a USB port from the BP monitor, or manually. There is a 30 day trial and buy it on the net for £13.
http://www.openoffice.org/ The Open Office free equivelant of that very expensive Microsoft product, Office. It is Word/Excel etc compatible *****
These days it is even possible to have Office compatible software which works on line. See http://www.zoho.com/
http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm Reduce the size of one -or many - pictures.***
www.picasa.com The best free (and simple) graphics manipulation program ever invented *****.
www.mlin.net Startup Control Panel (instead of using Msconfig) ****
www.nicocuppen.com (Photocopier for a scanner) ****
www.sisoft.com The Sandra diagnostic program ***
www.dsoft.com.tr/stripmail (Program to clean up email and webpage downloads) *****
http://www.mirekw.com/ Mwsnap. My favourite screen grabber *****
www.belarc.com (Belarc system analysis) *****
www.skype.com. (Free telephone calls) *****
www.dsoft.com.tr/stripmail (Stripmail email cleanup) *****
Mozilla Firefox (Internet explorer alterative) **** see Here
Mozilla Thunderbird (Outlook Express alternative *** see Here
http://www.filehippo.com/download_quicktime_alternative/ This will display MOV Movie files and is only 12Mb. Quicktime itself is 75Mb
www.google.com Search engine
http://bluefive.pair.com (Fontpage. excellent for viewing your fonts) ***
www.tpin.com (Terrapin FTP uploader) *****
AbAlarm An alarm clock for your screen and speakers.*** Click HERE for this useful free utility by Abelsoft

Please note that you can get the latest Open Office Suite (compatible with Microsoft Office 2007 programs) from http://www.8daysaweek.co.uk/. It costs £8.99

A new list mentioned in a blog. I have to admit I have only tried the ones marked ** myself. I am quoting directly from the blog.

"30 Essential Pieces Of Free (and Open) Software for Windows (Mainly XP)

The blog continues : Recently, I bought a new laptop from Dell. Upon receiving it, I removed a lot of the 'free' software that is preinstalled on Dells. Then I installed some truly free software that takes care of pretty much every software a person needs. If you want to do likewise take a look at this list and pick and choose. You will have to copy the link (e.g. http://www.getfirefox.com/ ) and paste it into the address line of your Internet Explorer.

**Firefox http://www.getfirefox.com/ Replaces Internet Explorer 6 and does much of what V 7 does. If you haven't switched to Firefox for your web browsing needs, do it now. It stops annoying popups and it has tons of amazing plugins that can make surfing the web even better. Don't worry, you can keep a shortcut on the desktop to IE as well
**Thunderbird http://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/ Replaces Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. Thunderbird is an email client that has five big things going for it: it's free, it's full featured, it's lightweight, runs quickly, has a spam filter, and it protects you from phishing attacks by clearly indicating which emails send you to a bogus website. If you're not already using a web-based email solution such as Googlemail, Thunderbird should be your email program.
Another from Mozilla. Sunbird http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird/ Replaces Microsoft Outlook's calendaring functions. It's extremely easy to use and easy to share your calendar with others.
Abiword http://www.abisource.com/ Replaces Microsoft Word. It's lightweight (meaning it runs quickly) plus it can save files in formats that you can exchange with Word and WordPerfect users, plus open any of their files, too.
**OpenOffice http://www.openoffice.org/ If you use Abiword and also want a Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint substitute. It includes replacements for those programs (and workable replacements for Access and other Office elements).
ClamWin http://www.clamwin.com/ Replaces Norton AntiVirus or McAfee ClamWin is a slick anti-virus software that's quite easy to manage and is unobtrusive while keep your system free of viruses. But, personally, I prefer Avast from http://www.avast.com.
Gaim http://gaim.sourceforge.net/ Replaces AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Messenger, etc. simultaneously with one program.
BitTorrent http://www.bittorrent.com/ BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer software that provides the fastest, most efficient means of distributing and discovering large, high-quality files on the Web. Search for media files you want and download them.
GIMPShop http://www.gimpshop.net/ Replaces the very expensive Adobe Photoshop. This is a version of the GNU Image Manipulation Program which imitates Adobe Photoshop.
Gnucleus http://www.gnucleus.com/Gnucleus/ Replaces LimeWire, BearShare for downloading media files but without all of the spyware?
VLC Media Player http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ Replaces Windows Media Player, Quicktime, RealPlayer, etc. Runs pretty much every media type you'll run across.
Juice http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/ Juice lets you effortlessly subscribe to podcasts, organize them, and listen to them at your convenience.
**Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ If you're interested in recording your own voice Audacity and a microphone are pretty much all you need.
RSSOwl http://www.rssowl.org/ One of many open source RSS readers. In other words, it enables you to use one program to keep track of the content of a lot of different blogs. If you have a laptop, it's preferable to using sites like Bloglines, but if you're on a desktop, a web-based feed manager might be better.
Filezilla http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/ Replaces WinFTP to FTP (upload) files to other computers, such as a website host.
Keynote http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html. is designed for taking notes on a laptop.
MusikCube http://www.musikcube.com/ Replaces iTunes If you're not already committed to downloaded music from the iTunes Music Store, then MusikCube is the best choice available for a music organizer and player. It organizes your mp3s, makes it really easy and really fast to find them, and allows you to make playlists.
Handbrake http://handbrake.m0k.org/ enables you to stick a DVD in your DVD drive and have the contents of that film stored to your hard drive in a form that can be read by pretty much any media player.
X-Chat 2 http://www.silverex.org/ Replaces mIRC X-Chat is a free IRC (Internet Chat) program.
KeePass http://keepass.sourceforge.net/ is a program that securely stores and manages passwords.
TrueCrypt http://www.truecrypt.org/ TrueCrypt enables you to convert a memory stick (or whatever) into a strongly encrypted data storage device, meaning that you can store personal data on it without worrying about losing it.
PDFCreator http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ Replaces the expensive Adobe Acrobat PDFCreator creates a virtual printer on your computer that, if you print a document to it from any program, creates a PDF of that document that can be read on any computer with Acrobat Reader on it. After installing PDFCreator, all you have to do is print like normal and out comes a PDF!
Freemind http://freemind.sourceforge.net/ Freemind is a "mind mapping" software program. It enables you to brainstorm and link together ideas quickly, creating "maps" of concepts similar to what you might do on a whiteboard. .
NASA Worldwind http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/ Replaces Google Earth .WorldWind is very similar to Google Earth in that it allows you to browse the globe. Incredible for viewing three-dimensional landscapes of any place on earth.
**Notepad2 http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html. Replaces Notepad adding features such as multiple documents; line, word, and character counts; and some highlighting of tags. Much better for editing HTML than Notepad.
HealthMonitor http://healthmonitor.zucchetti.com/. HealthMonitor enables you to keep an eye on the health of your computer. It identifies slowdowns and other system issues quickly and lets you know (for example, it gives a popup if your system memory gets to a certain percentage of fullness, or if your hard drive has only 10 GB free). This can keep you out of trouble and also give you clues to problems your machine might be having.
Workrave http://www.workrave.org/ Workrave locks down the computer for a while, preventing you from getting a repetitive stress injury. Would be useful in offices to avoid costly claims for injury..
GanttPV http://www.pureviolet.net/ganttpv/ Replaces Microsoft Project, managing projects quickly, easily, and freely. If you need to move to MS Project later, you can export from GanttPV to Project.
GnuCash http://www.gnucash.org/ Replaces Microsoft Money or Quicken GnuCash is a slimmed-down version of those packages, but it contains all of the features you need for managing your money - it functions much like a checkbook ledger on your computer.
And one free game: True Combat: Elite http://www.truecombatelite.net/ Like Quake IV, Halo, etc. a third person combat game, the graphics are spectacular and the game is quite engrossing.

If you've downloaded and installed all of these, you've got access to all the productivity software you'll likely need, clean and open and best of all free."

Focus Software is commercial but always reasonably priced (£5 - £10) See Here for titles such as 3D Arts and crafts, Model Railway, Typing, Greeting and Business cards, T - shirts etc

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