Mary Hunt writes for Woman’s Day:
As much as I love the word (free), I have to admit it makes me suspicious… But every now and then an exception comes along that’s truly free-no strings attached, no hidden agendas. Here are my favorites, and all you really need is an Internet connection to go online.
She has several of our favorites listed, from free software to services to free business cards…
A few weeks ago, Clif from the FreewareWiki wrote a fine post about the Lupo PenSuite. We’ve been fans of this collection of portable applications for some time.
Clif mentioned in his post that he found it difficult to create his own menu entries in the Lupo menu system. We added SoftMaker Office 2006 to our copy of the suite, and took the opportunity in doing so to create a tutorial slideshow (which we’ve embedded below) on how to add a portable application to the Lupo PenSuite.
A full-screen version of this presentation is available here for those that are interested.
We’ve posted several free games links in the past. Here’s one more - WoobaGames…
Google released a beta version of Chrome, a new web browser, today. More information and details can be found here. They say:
Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.
Lifehacker has screenshots and first impressions. We’ve downloaded it and have been experimenting with it as well. It is minimalist, and there are some features missing that we’d like to see, but it is a beta (test) version, after all. As with most all of Google’s offerings, we suspect that it will only get better as development progresses.
Edit 09/05/2008:
The Google Operating System blog has a great Google Chrome Tips entry…
Edit 09/08/2008:
Lifehacker has posted the most excellent Power User’s Guide to Google Chrome. The Techie Buzz blog has the Ultimate List of Tips and Tricks for Google Chrome.
Edit 09/12/2008:
Concerned about Google Chrome and your privacy? Want to know how (and when) Google Chrome communicates with google.com? Here are straight answers…
An update to the Lotus Symphony 1.0 release came out this week. According to the release notes, features have been added, the suite’s memory footprint has been reduced, and there are several bug fixes. Check it out!
The TechMixer blog recently posted a good list of free CD and DVD burning programs for use on Windows. We’ve used all of the listed programs on several different Windows PCs with no problems or issues.
Our personal favorite, BurnAware Free Edition, isn’t on the linked list above. The last freeware version produced (the company was sold and the new owners no longer offer a free version) can be downloaded by clicking here.
Edit 08/26/2008:
BurnAware Free Edition lives! We have not yet tried this new version 2.1.0.0, but it’s good to see a freeware version available again.
Courtesy of Google, we now have a custom Windows Freeware Search Engine. Here’s a preview:
It can also be found at the top of our Links to Free Software page. It has been customized so that the search starts with all of the freeware sites that we’ve linked to on that page and in this blog. If you have a specific need for a program to perform a particular function, or if you’re just curious as to what’s available, give it a spin.
As always, please contact us if we can be of assistance. We’d be happy to help!
IrfanView is a free image viewer and editor that we’ve used (and really enjoyed) since the Windows 95 days. It is quick, light and easy to use. This YouTube clip is a good basic tutorial on how to get started with IrfanView:
Samuel Dean has written a couple of great posts about IrfanView on the Web Worker Daily blog called IrfanView: Great Graphics On-the-Fly, and Free, and Tutorials and Plug-Ins for IrfanView–a Graphics Gem.
Ben Carigtan has written an outstanding tutorial called Photo sketch tutorial and swapping colors using IrfanView for the Online Tech Tips blog.
A Google search for IrfanView Tutorial will give you many more guides and tutorials to choose from.
There are ads currently running on Craigslist selling TV on PC software for $9.95. Why pay for what you can get for free?
JLC’s Internet TV is a FREE program for watching and browsing thousands of TV channels freely available on the internet. It’s probably the biggest and most up to date database of channels ever, and users are able to submit, rate and flag channels.
Here’s a screenshot: (click image below to open enlarged in a new tab or window)
You definitely will not get the same channels or shows that your cable/satellite provider gets, but it is free. It is worth a look. Many of the available channels are from all over the world.
We would also recommend downloading and installing VLC Player and then setting JLC’s Internet TV to use it (rather than Windows Media Player) by default. To do this, click on Options, Settings in the Menu Bar. When the Settings window opens, click on the Media Player tab at the top:
As shown in the graphic above, make sure there’s a checkmark in the box labeled “Use VLC to play ALL streams“.
Online help, including a “Get started tutorial” is available here.
You can also see the same channels right in your internet browser here.
See also our post titled Watch TV via the Internet.
This is a free office suite which will run on Windows 95 and newer Microsoft operating systems. It consists of:
TextMaker for Windows - The Microsoft Word-compatible word processor that’s so easy to use that you’ll wonder why you bothered with Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org for so long.
(click image below to open enlarged in a new tab or window)
PlanMaker for Windows - The Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet that opens all your Excel workbooks directly and gives you many time-saving features.
(click image below to open enlarged in a new tab or window)
There is no presentation (PowerPoint-like) component. Nonetheless, we are really liking this suite for its versatility and simplicity. It is more capable than AbiWord and much lighter and quicker to open than OpenOffice.org, StarOffice, or Lotus Symphony.
It also has another neat feature - after installation, a start menu link is created which allows the suite to be copied to a USB flash drive as a portable application. You CAN take it with you!
Details and a download link can be found here. The suite is fully-functional, non-crippled, and not time-limited.
After installation, click on Extras, Preferences…
(click image below to open enlarged in a new tab or window)
…and then click on the File tab at the top of the Preferences window. The second drop-down menu (as shown below) allows the default file format to be set to your choice of Microsoft Office-compatible formats. You’ll need to do this in both TextMaker and PlanMaker.
TextMaker documents will then be saved with a .doc extension, and PlanMaker spreadsheets will be saved with a .xls extension automatically by default so they can be shared with Microsoft Office users.