Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Its free and you didn't know it
With the ever escalating prices for essential software like Microsoft Office more attention is being focused on open-source (free) alternatives. One of note is Open Office and it provides the features the average user needs without the escalating cost of the brand name product. Venture over and take a quick tour. I was on board in the early days and, I must admit the user interface is drastically more intuitive. In fact, the latest major release was one of the most downloaded applications at its release. Servers were scurrying to keep up with demand but the wait was well worth it.
To give credit where credit is due, Microsoft has a program that allows Students and Teachers to purchase their products at greatly reduced prices. You can check that program out here. That's quite a discount given the fact that Microsoft Office 2007 costs anywhere from $199 to $399 depending on which features you need.
Another essential product that every computer user needs is an AntiVirus program. There are scores of free products out there but which one does the job without requiring too much user input. I have found AVG Antivirus-Free to be the least intrusive while maintaining a decent level of protection. I have used other vendors free products and was really irritated by how often I had to answer questions from pop-ups.
To keep your computer running optimal you need to scan for mal-ware and (Little malicious pieces of code or files) that are picked up from time to time. They elude almost all of the Anti-virus software I have used to include the big boy Symantec's offerings. One good application to install and run on a fairly frequent (depending on your surfing habits) basis is Malwarebytes. If you frequent sites that may be questionable frequently then buy it. It is worth every penny. The free versions requires you to manually update and run it at selected intervals while the paid version does it for you. If your computer has been running exceptionally slower than it used to, run Malwarebytes and you will probably be amazed at how many threats it catches.
Of the programs I have mentioned that offer free versions, if you find them particularly useful then please purchase the full version. They are usually very inexpensive and offer even more features you have grown to like.
To give credit where credit is due, Microsoft has a program that allows Students and Teachers to purchase their products at greatly reduced prices. You can check that program out here. That's quite a discount given the fact that Microsoft Office 2007 costs anywhere from $199 to $399 depending on which features you need.
Another essential product that every computer user needs is an AntiVirus program. There are scores of free products out there but which one does the job without requiring too much user input. I have found AVG Antivirus-Free to be the least intrusive while maintaining a decent level of protection. I have used other vendors free products and was really irritated by how often I had to answer questions from pop-ups.
To keep your computer running optimal you need to scan for mal-ware and (Little malicious pieces of code or files) that are picked up from time to time. They elude almost all of the Anti-virus software I have used to include the big boy Symantec's offerings. One good application to install and run on a fairly frequent (depending on your surfing habits) basis is Malwarebytes. If you frequent sites that may be questionable frequently then buy it. It is worth every penny. The free versions requires you to manually update and run it at selected intervals while the paid version does it for you. If your computer has been running exceptionally slower than it used to, run Malwarebytes and you will probably be amazed at how many threats it catches.
Of the programs I have mentioned that offer free versions, if you find them particularly useful then please purchase the full version. They are usually very inexpensive and offer even more features you have grown to like.
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