Five Freeware Alternatives

The average computer user has a handful of tasks that they regularly perform, such as surfing the web, creating documents, and editing photos. Unfortunatly, some of the programs most commonly used to carry out these tasks have problems. They can be bloated, slow down your computer, or just be too expensive. This is why it is important to know that you have many free software, or freeware, options at your disposal. Try some of these programs if you become frustrated with your current choices.


1) Web Browser: Windows computers come equiped with Internet Explorer as the default browser, which is ok for brief surfing sessions but leaves a lot to be desired in the long run. The newest version, IE9, has actually made improvments on previous versions, but still does not match the speed, safety, and customization available with its chief competitors, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. All three browsers take you to the same internet, but Firefox and Chrome generally offer a more pleasing user experience and offer a slew of add-ons which let you customize the appearance of the browser and perform specialized tasks, like downloading YouTube videos or blocking advertisements, just to name two. Once you become acquainted with these browsers it's hard to go back to Internet Explorer.

2) PDF Reader: Like Internet Explorer, Adobe Reader comes pre-packaged on new computers and is designed to be the default program used to read PDF documents. As many people who use PDFs will attest, Adobe Reader often takes a long time to start up and needs to perform large updates on a regular basis. It doesn't have to be this way. Foxit Reader and PDF-XChange Reader are two excellent alternatives to Adobe's bloated reader which allow annotations, bookmarking, and a ton of other features. They also use up fewer system resources. If you're concerned about hard drive space these are also great: for example Adobe Reader X takes up 470MB on my hard drive, while Foxit Reader is using only 25MB for the same purposes.

3) Antivirus: There are a few good subscription-based antivirus programs on the market like Norton and Kaspersky, but you also should be aware that there are quite a few free antivirus programs that will also keep you safe. Avast and AVG have free versions that are very good and are quite popular. However, we recommend Microsoft Security Essentials to our customers. It will not slow your computer down, and who better to take care of your Windows computer than Microsoft? Security Essentials is relatively new to the antivirus market, but it continues to get excellent reviews and is a great alternative to the paid programs.

4) Office Suite: Microsoft Office seems to have cornered the market on office suites, but having to purchase a license for each computer that uses it can get pricey. A solution to this problem can be found with Open Office. Open Office allows the user to make word processing documents, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, and more, and can read from and write to documents created with Microsoft Office and other similar programs. It has many of the same features as Office, so those who have had experience with Microsoft's programs will not be totally overwhelmed.

5) Photo Editing: Adobe Photoshop is so popular that it has become a verb. "There's no way you met Stephen Colbert -- you photoshopped that picture!" Not everyone has $699 (the price of the full home version of Photoshop CS5) to spend touching up photos, though. For casual users, GIMP is a much more reasonable alternative. It offers many of the same basic and advanced touch-up and drawing features of Photoshop for a much better price: free. GIMP's website even offers tutorials so that you can brush up on your brushes without using the eraser tool on your bank account.

These great freeware programs are all excellent programs by themselves, but the fact that you can use them all free of cost makes it even better. Does anyone have any other free programs that they like to use which were not mentioned? Tell us about it in the comments: maybe we'll use it in a future submission!

Five Common Computer Mistakes

Computers are complicated.  If you don’t keep up with all of the latest trends in technology it’s easy to fall behind the curve.  There are, however, a few telling signs that a user is closer to the novice end of the scale than the expert one.  These tips may not have you “hacking into the mainframe” or creating the next Facebook, but at the very least it will give you a brief education and could keep your kids from laughing at you behind your back when you try to explain how “the lights on the PC box won’t turn on.”  This might be review for some people, but these issues can come up surprisingly often in the tech field. Knowing these common pitfalls will help you explain exactly what it is that is happening to your computer so that you can get the right help quickly.

1)  Parts of the Computer:  The keyboard and mouse are easy. The confusion happens more often regarding the monitor and the computer.  When you try to explain to someone who isn’t with you in the room that your computer won’t turn on, it’s important that you’re using the correct lingo.  The computer is the box that holds your hard drive, motherboard, disc drives, and all of the guts that let you do what you want to do. The monitor is merely the screen that you’re reading this from.

2)  Microsoft Office is not your operating system:  Often when we ask someone which operating system (OS) they’re using we get the reply “2010” or “2007.”  Conversely, when we ask which version of Office they have, they tell us “Windows 7” or “XP.” This kind of confusion can be avoided by understanding the difference between the two questions.  An operating system is the “master” program that runs when you first turn on your computer. It tells all of your other programs how to run.  Examples of an OS are Windows XP, Vista, or 7.  Microsoft Office is just a group of related programs (such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) that allow you to make documents and spreadsheets.  The latest versions of Microsoft Office are 2003, 2007, and 2010.

3)  Browsers vs. “The Internet” :  This one might sound nitpicky, but it’s another helpful bit of terminology to learn before telling someone you can’t find the internet when really it’s the browser that you’re having trouble with.  Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and AOL are all examples of web browsers.  These are basically just programs which let you access the World Wide Web. The internet is the actual network that lets people connect with each other and their favorite websites.

4)  Toolbars, Toolbars Toolbars:  Every once and a while we see that someone has (probably accidentally) installed a dozen unnecessary search toolbars to their web browser. One or two should be plenty, and any more that that will slow down your computer and take up valuable real estate on your monitor (remember this one?).  Usually there is a right click option to remove the toolbar, but if this doesn’t work try Googling “remove _________ toolbar,” filling in the blank with the unwanted search engine.

Don't let this happen to you!

5)  Memory vs. Hard Drive:  This one is a bit more technical.  Memory, or RAM (Random Access Memory), is the temporary storage used by your computer when it is on. Your operating system (more review words!) and applications will store data in memory that it might need to retrieve again soon.  The hard drive is where you save your pictures and documents so that you can pull them up tomorrow or in two years. If you aren’t able to store any more documents on your computer, you probably need more hard drive space, not more memory. If your computer is running really slowly, you might need more memory.

My Newest, Favorite App & the Top 5

I am an avid reader.  I buy books that I like to read over and over, and I use the library for one-time reads.  I used to travel some in a past career, and would typically stop in the airport bookstore and purchase a book to read while flying.  One time, while reading a Star Wars novel, everything seemed familiar to me and it wasn't due to my unhealthy fascination with Lightsabers.  I had already purchased and read the book during a previous business trip!  My newest app purchase will make sure that I never do that again!  It gets added to my Top 5 Favorite Apps. 

1) iBookshelf (iTunes Link) $1.99 - This app works on both the small screen and the large.  It's a fantastic database for your library, and will allow you to scan the barcode of your books and add those titles automatically for you! You can track loans to others & books that you want to read.  If you use this app, you'll never purchase the same book twice again! Best of all, you will have this app with you on your phone when you go to the bookstore!

2) Flow (iTunes Link) Free Trial then $9.99/month - A great task/project management app for the iPhone.  You can manage your Projects, next actions, lists, ToDo's and anything you want in a GTD fasion.  You can even delegate tasks to non-Flow users!

3) Pandora (iTunes Link) Free - Pandora has long been a staple for me.  I have quite an extensive music library, but I find myself listening to the same music over and over again.  Pandora allows me to expand my listening library based on music that I already like.  You can also use Pandora on PCs, TiVos, and many other devices.  Click www.pandora.com for more details. 

4) Photosynth (iTunes Link) Free - Microsoft has really outdone themselves with this iOS app.  Photosynth allows you to "stitch" together photos and make a panorama of your surroundings.  This is a must have app for anyone who takes pictures. 

5) MyWi 4.0 (Jailbreak App) $20 - If you ever have a need to have mobile internet access for your laptop, MyWi is the way to go.  Data is Data.  Your cellular carrier should not have the right to tell you how to use your data plan.  After all, you are paying them, aren't you?  MyWi will allow you to set up a mobile hotspot so that you can use your phone's data stream and get internet access to your laptop or other portable device.  You must have a jailbroken iPhone in order to use this.  It's not for the faint of heart. 

What fell out of my Top 5?  iBookshelf replaced Netflix (iTunes Link).  I found that I wasn't using Netflix enough to justify it being in my Top 5.  I still love the product, but I'd rather read! 

What are your favorite apps? 

Backup Friday

I'd like to share a recent conversation that I had with my sister.  Her laptop crashed this week.  It's a four year old laptop and has served her well.  The crash was severe enough that I couldn't really help her our remotely.  She decided very quickly to replace it, and of course I asked, 

"Is there data to save?" - Garth

"Isn't there always?" - Colleen

"No. Not always.  Some people have backups!" - Garth

"Yeah, well we're not some people." - Colleen

<Inward groan> "Maybe this time" - Garth

There are any number of great ways to backup your data so that you don't lose your pictures, music, videos, and files.  People used to have shoeboxes of pictures in the backs of closets.  They were always at risk with a fire or flood.  

You can back up your entire data collection for around $55 per year with Carbonite or BackBlaze.  Aren't your family pictures worth it? 

5 Things You Can Do To Keep Your PC Running Smoothly

Your PC needs regular maintenance and protection just as much as your car needs an oil change.  Here are 5 things that all PC users can do to help maintain their PC: 

1) Basic Maintenance: Keep your PC clean.  Use some canned air twice a year to blow out vent and ports.  Get that dust out of there.  If you clean out your PC on a regular basis, it is less likely to overheat. 

2) Power Protection: Use a higher quality power strip.  The one that you purchased for $4.99 probably doesn't provide the best protection against power surges.  We have more service calls for dead PCs during lightning season than you can imagine.  Many of these would have been avoided with a better quality power strip. 

3) Anti-Virus & Anti-Malware:

Anti-Virus – You need to run basic Anti-Virus protection. There are no reasons to forgo this protection because there are many great free services out there.  We’re currently recommending Microsoft Security Essentials for small business and home uses. 

Anti-Spyware – Viruses aren’t the only bad things looking to get into your PC.  Spyware is the fastest growing threat to your PC. Try Malwarebytes Anti-Malware or SpySweeper.

(Yes, we know that this was included in last week’s top 5.  It’s that important!)

4) Firewall: A firewall is like a barbed wire fence.  It helps protect your digital property while allowing safe communication through.  All networks need to use at least one firewall, and I use two.  I have a hardware based firewall in my router, and I also have a software firewall that is used on each of our PCs. 

5) System Restore: From time to time, a new program or a driver can cause unexpected interference with Windows or other programs.  You may see erratic behavior or certain programs will not work as expected.  Usually, uninstalling the program or driver corrects the problem. When this doesn't help, you need to restore your system using Windows System Restore.  It's like a "Do Over" or a way to go back to a previous set-up.  You won't lose any data doing this as it only changes programs and Windows.  This only works when it is turned on and actively working for you!

Weekly 127TECH Tips Summary

Friday 11/5/2010 - 127TECH Tip: It's Backup Friday! What's your backup plan? What would you do if you lost your pictures? Click to starthttp://goo.gl/T0X0Q

Thursday 11/4/2010 - 127TECH Tip: Reboot. It really helps.

Wednesday 11/3/2010 - 127TECH Tip: Do you use Gmail? Have you run through the Gmail Security Checklist? You Should! See it here: http://goo.gl/Mbve

Tuesday 11/2/2010 - 127TECH Tip: Five Steps to Safer Computing - Blog Post. #1 Paswords, Passwords, Passwords! Click to see the rest!http://goo.gl/6pdV

Monday 11/1/2010 - 127TECH Tip: Facebook Users- Check out every privacy setting. Do you really want everything to be public? You can stop embarrassing slip-ups.

Five Steps to Safer Computing

1) Passwords, Passwords, Passwords!  Do you use the same password for every account?  Does your computer even have a login password?  Your first line of defense is a strong password.  A strong password contains a combination of at least letters and numbers.  A strong password generally can’t be tied to anything recognizable to you such as your grandchild’s name or birthday.  Avoid common passwords such as: password; 123456; abc123; and qwerty. 

2) Backup:  Are you backing up your data?  In our last blog post we talked about the importance of digital backups.  Here’s an excerpt:

A good backup plan is inexpensive.  It's safe, secure, and reliable.  It works automatically, so that you don't have to manually intervene.  A good backup doesn't care how much data you store in it, because it knows that tomorrow you'll have more.  I use Mozy.  It costs about $55/year.  It's encrypted.  It backs up my files at least twice a day.  It's unlimited for the home user.    It helps me avoid being a "Bad Dad."  

Why don't you try it today?  Click Here to start the service. 

3) Anti-Virus & Anti-Malware: We are joining these two together since they are so closely related. 

Anti-Virus – You need to run basic Anti-Virus protection. There are no reasons to forgo this protection because there are many great free services out there.  We’re currently recommending Microsoft Security Essentials for small business and home uses.  CLICK HERE to get this software. 

Anti-Spyware – Viruses aren’t the only bad things looking to get into your PC.  Spyware is the fastest growing threat to your PC. Try Malwarebytes Anti-Malware or SpySweeper. 

4) Update: Turn on Windows Updates to keep your PC up-to-date with the latest patches. Windows updates will download the latest security updates to protect against malware and other potentially unwanted software; Updates that improve reliability and performance; Upgrades to Windows features and Drivers from Microsoft partners.  If you want more control over this process, turn on “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download or install them.” You should also update other software such as Adobe.   

5) Encryption: This is a more advanced solution, but in today's world I highly recommend it. Do you have sensitive employee or client information on your computer? Do you have scanned copies of life insurance or stock accounts?  If so, you must encrypt it. You don't want to be responsible for letting that data escape into untrusting hands.  TrueCrypt is a great solution as it balances tough security and an easy-to-use interface.  It’s free and easy to install on any PC, Mac, or Linux machine.  

If you have any questions about the above items, please feel free to contact us.