Free For All
Freeware is a term given to software that is available at no direct cost to the user, though the source code rights are retained by the software’s creator. Freeware differs from ‘shareware’ in that shareware is free to use for a trial period, after which it must be paid for to continue using it. Freeware can be enjoyed by the user for its useful life without direct cost.
Most PCs come with at least one freeware program installed, Adobe Acrobat Reader. People create files in PDF format so that they can insure that what you are viewing is seen exactly as they intended. Forms, manuals, and brochures are excellent applications for PDF files. Adobe sells the software to create PDF files, and it behooves them if people like you and I can actually read those PDF files, so they make Acrobat Reader available free of charge. The current version, 7.0, is relatively new, you may want to update to it at http://www.adobe.com, but be warned that it is a very large download. Software just seems to keep getting bigger and bigger (kind of like that guy in my mirror), which really makes the case for folks considering a broadband connection.
While Adobe Acrobat is the leader in PDF creation software, several free offerings make the ability to create PDF files a reality for home users. PrimoPDF is one example. It is available free of charge at http://www.primopdf.com. You can create any file in any software, then ‘print it’ to the PrimoPDF ‘printer’, which creates a PDF file that can be read by Acrobat Reader. I’ve found this to be a good tool for sending diagrams and sketches to recipients.
Probably the all around best value in free software on the web, outside of perhaps some Linux operating systems, is Open Office, which is the frugal person’s answer to Microsoft Office, a software suite which can cost several hundreds of dollars. Open Office includes spreadsheet capability, word processing and presentation software, and can read from and save to Excel, Word, and PowerPoint file types. The download runs close to 70 megabytes, but you can get it free at http://www.openoffice.org
Many folks are tired of security leaks in Windows’ built-in browser, Internet Explorer, and are moving to the free open source product Mozilla Firefox. It’s what I’m running on my machine. It has not yet been targeted by many evil web denizens, so it is relatively free from browser hijackers and other malware, and it has a built-in pop-up blocker. You can download the updated version 1.0.1 from http://www.mozilla.org. And while you’re at that site, check out their free Thunderbird product, which is an alternative to Outlook Express.
In the area of multimedia, consider Real Alternative which you can find in the Tools section at http://www.free-codecs.com. If you have gotten as frustrated as I have with Real Player, which is required to play Real Media types of multimedia files, you’ll want to consider uninstalling Real Player and using Real Alternative instead.
Ever wish you could just capture a portion of the screen you are looking at and save it as a graphic file? I use a pay-for product called HyperSnap, but a free program possessing similar capabilities (though on a limited scale) is called Screenhunter 4.0. You can download it from http://www.wisdom-soft.com
This being tax time, I’d be remiss not to mention a product called TaxAct, which is a free alternative to TurboTax and TaxCut. If you have basic tax return needs and want to roll your own, try a download from http://www.taxact.com
The whole area of internet security is rich with free and effective software. I’ve mentioned these in previously articles, so I’ll be brief here. If you feel like you have to pay Norton or McAfee $25 a year to be safe from viruses, by all means be my guest. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to happily use AVG from http://www.grisoft.com on my home machine. The product is free, as are daily virus signature updates, and it flat-out works. Many people also like Avast anti-virus, which you can check out at http://www.avast.com. Their version 4 is also free for home use.
From http://www.lavasoftusa.com you can download a free version of AdAware. The free version does not prevent infection from spyware, but it will scan your PC and remove many of the nasties. In conjunction with AdAware, I like to use Spybot, available from http://www.safer-networking.org. Spybot will scan you machine and get things that AdAware misses (and vice versa). It also inoculates your PC against about 2,200 types of spyware. Another product, Spyware Blaster, is a free product that does not scan your machine for spyware, but like Spybot helps prevent spyware from hopping on board in the first place, and does so for a much broader range of spyware. You can get it from http://www.javacoolsoftware.com And finally, the free version on Zone Alarm (http://www.zonelabs.com) provides firewall protection for those who have not turned on the firewall that comes with the service pack 2 update to Windows XP.
Ever need to know what sort of hardware is inside your case? Here are two outstanding free utilities that will tell you more than you could imagine. Get Everest from www.lavalys.com or System Information for Windows from http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtopala/about_siw.html.
Is your hard drive running a fever? Newer drives spin at 7200 RPM and can get hot. If your PC case is in a confined area, fans can lose their cooling effectiveness and extreme temps can degrade the life span of a drive. Now you can monitor your hard drive’s temp with a free program called HDD Thermometer. It lives in your system tray (by the little clock) and polls your HD temp periodically and displays the results. It’s a very small download which you can find and read about here:
http://www.rsdsoft.com/hdd-thermometer/index.php
While you’re viewing all those free software websites, remember that this and all previous computer-related Taberna Tribune articles can be viewed online at: http://members.cox.net/wamaruna/tribune.html