Carputers News and Computer Tips

During their recent Load and Help campaign, SoftMaker Software GmbH offered SoftMaker Office 2008 for Windows and Linux as a free download. 

If you missed this campaign, here’s another chance to get SoftMaker Office 2008 for free.  The German magazine Stern offers it on their website.  Click here for the translated download and registration page.  You have to provide them with a valid email address to get the registration code.

We’ve blogged about this office suite before.  It has also been ”rebadged” as Ashampoo Office 2008.

Besides its excellent compatibility with Microsoft Office, the other neat feature about the Windows version of this suite is that once you install it on a host computer it creates a start menu entry that allows you to copy your installation to a USB flash drive.

Cameron Chapman (who is one of our favorite writers about things online) recently wrote an outstanding article for the Webdesigner Depot website entitled How to Find Anything Online: Become an Internet Research Expert.  He notes:

…with the Internet, almost anything you could ever want to know is at your fingertips. You just have to learn how to access it.

We agree wholeheartedly and have found this to be the case.  We blogged three years ago this month about the American Library Association’s Best Free Reference Web Sites. 

Mr. Ms. Chapman’s article gives tips and sites that, while they will not make you an immediate expert at research, will enable you to expand and practice your search technique.  It is a definite keeper!

Edit 01/01/2010:

This campaign has now ended.  SoftMaker donated 6,089 Euros (ten Euro cents per download) to charity and development projects around the globe.  We hope you were able to participate! 

Here’s how to make SoftMaker Office 2008 save files in Microsoft Office (.doc, .xls, .ppt) formats automatically.  You’ll need to do this in all three (TextMaker 2008, PlanMaker 2008, and Presentations 2008) programs. 

After installation, click on Tools, Options… in the menu bar…

…and and then click on the Files tab at the top of the Options window. 

The drop-down menu labeled Default file format (as shown above) allows the default file format to be set to your choice of Microsoft Office-compatible formats.

TextMaker documents will then be saved with a .doc file extension, PlanMaker spreadsheets will be saved with a .xls file extension, and Presentations will then be saved with a .ppt file extension automatically by default so they can be shared with Microsoft Office users.

We’ve blogged about IBM Lotus Symphony many times in the past, and are fans of this free office productivity suite.

Now there’s a portable version of this software, packaged to be run directly from a USB drive without installing anything nor leaving a footprint on the host PC.

The portable version was put together via a partnership between IBM, VMware and NSEC, and was packaged for NSEC’s Keypod line of USB storage devices. 

It can be downloaded free of charge from the Keepod Store.  This version will run from any USB storage device; ownership of a Keepod is not necessary.  You will have to register and give a valid email address to get to the 188 MB file download.

Be advised that this version weighs in at a beefy 493 MB unzipped:

Like many portable applications, it doesn’t start up as quickly as the installed-to-the-hard-drive version.  The portability factor is, in our view, a reasonable tradeoff for a slower-than-expected start up.  Once the suite is open performance is on par with the installed version.   

Edit 01/14/2010:

Here’s a more in-depth article about IBM Lotus Symphony courtesy of the How-To Geek…

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 may, in some cases, fail to display some web pages correctly.  Microsoft addresses this issue in this Microsoft Support article, which states: 

 …you may experience any of the following symptoms in Internet Explorer 8:

 - Menus, images, or text are in the wrong positions on some Web sites.

 - Some Web site features do not work.

 - You receive script error messages on some Web sites.

 - Internet Explorer stops working or crashes on some Web sites.

Microsoft lists the cause for this as:

Some Web sites are designed for older browsers. You may experience compatibility issues on these sites until they are updated for Internet Explorer 8. 

There is a Compatibility View feature in IE 8 that will help these sites display and work as well as they can.  Here’s the “short attention span” version of how to turn it on: 

With IE 8 open, click “Tools” on the Command Bar, and then click “Compatibility View Settings” on the Tools menu as shown below:

Once the Compatibility View Settings window opens, click to put a checkmark in the box next to where it says “Display all websites in Compatibility View” as shown below:

Click the “Close” button, and you’re done.  We recommend you close and restart Internet Explorer 8 after making this change.

And, as always, if you need assistance or have a computer-related question, contact us!  We’ll be happy to help!

While you’re flying this holiday season (through 01/15/2010), you can enjoy free WiFi at 47 participating airports, courtesy of Google…

Edit 12/23/2009:

PC World and Yahoo News feature a list of chain restaurants which offer free WiFi.

Many free software programs are licensed for home, non-commercial, or non-business use only.  Our Links to Free Software page contains a note about this which states:

Some free software licenses stipulate home or personal use only - read the license agreements and let your conscience be your guide…

Here is a well-researched, two-page long list of software applications that may legitimately be used in a business setting over at the Donation Coder forums. In this age of doing more with less, I thought that blogging it would be appropriate.

As always, if you aren’t sure what you need, contact us!  We’ll be happy to help!

Actually, school here in metro Birmingham, AL has been back in session since mid-August.  However, since this is Labor Day weekend with tomorrow being the “traditional” start of school for many, we thought we’d note some resources that would be useful for students and parents.

The first is a post we wrote a couple of years ago about web-based applications for students.

The second is an article written for Mashable by Josh Catone entitled Back to School: 15 Essential Web Tools for Students.  He writes:

“From staying organized to improving study habits to making sure you reference your research sources properly, the web can help you be a better student.”

The third is a call from blogger Bill Mullins urging High School/College Students (to) Line Up Here for Your Free PC Software.  Bill’s picks are, in his words:

“…recommended free downloads that will help you communicate, get those assignments done, have some fun, and manage and protect your system while you’re surfing the Internet.”

Bill mentions Open Office in his picks.  We’ve pointed out several Microsoft Office Alternatives over the last few years.  As we’ve said before, “free is good”, especially in this day and time of belt-tightening.

Looking for other sources for legitimate, free software?  We maintain a list on out links pages!

Here are two sets of picks for the best websites of 2009 - one from Time Magazine, and one from PC Magazine.  The latter also features a downloadable application that will add add all 100 sites to your IE Favorites (you can also export them to Firefox).

We’ll edit this post whenever more lists come out between now and the end of 2009.

Edit 10/30/2009:

techradar.com has a six page list entitled 95 Websites You Should Totally Bookmark Today that is worth a read.

Who says we don’t have a sense of humor? With a tip of the hat to XKCD…

Seriously, if we can be of assistance, contact us!  You’ll be glad you did!