FREE! How’s that for an attention grabber. To many, including myself, that word signals a red flash in the mind saying “take it! take it ASAP!” And why not, getting something at no cost to oneself is undeniably human nature. Of course, rare is anything free. However I’ve found that one of the easiest things obtainable today for no cost at all are computer applications. With the internet, finding free or cheap alternatives to many useful applications are no problem at all, and here are my favorite free applications in terms of productivity, optimization and protection.
Whenever I’m reading or writing on my PC, whether it is an email or an article, I’ve always managed to find words that are not in my vocabulary. Put simply, I don’t know the word. Before the internet, I would need to open up a dictionary and manually look for the word. After the internet came about, I was able navigate through websites looking for the definition. Now I use WordWeb, a simple and small application that once installed on my PC, allows me to look up any word instantaneously. I’ve configured it so that any time I hold “Ctrl” and right click on a word, it automatically looks up the definition and displays it in a convenient window. It’s exactly as I would find it in a dictionary!
As far as system cleanup and optimization goes, CCleaner is one of my favorites. Simple, yet comprehensive CCleaner have a variety of options including hard drive clean-up as well as temporary files (local and internet). It’s always a good idea to run CCleaner to clean my hard drive, unneeded files, registry, and a variety of other things, ensuring that my system is running as smoothly as possible. Even the CNET editors can attest for CCleaners strength, giving it a rare 5 star rating.
Lastly, I can’t believe how many viruses are out nowadays, how easy it is to be infected, and how hard it is to get rid of it. It’s not uncommon to hear a handful of users in a day report that their PC’s are infected, and quite often the only solution is to completely wipe the PC and rebuild. Besides having an Anti-Virus application such as AVG to protect my computer, I find that it is quite useful to have Spybot: Search and Destroy installed for spyware and internet browsing protection. Free and easily available online, everyone should have this installed on their system. It scans for spyware extensively, helping to minimize the possibility of a spyware compromising the system. Spybot can even be scheduled to run automatically so I don’t have to worry!
These are only a small snippet of the available free software available on the internet. There are many sources that provide downloads for free software. One emerging sector of the free applications market is the open source applications. These are applications created by freelance programmers who openly share with the community. These free applications include the original development codes so that anyone may evaluate and even improve upon. Best of all, because these applications are provided with the original codes like an open book, NO spyware can be hidden!
Two Recommended Free Applications Site:
Download.com (hosted by CNET)
SourceForge.net
ENJOY!
Tony is a Service Coordinator with San Diego-based Bravura Networks, Inc.
Contact Tony at ttran@bravuranetworks.com
