In any economic climate, but particularly this one, cheap is good, free is better!
As Autumn approaches and days under 100 degrees loom on the horizon for those of us in the desert, I thought I'd share some freebies I found over the summer. This is a somewhat eclectic collection of varying categories, but might be worth checking out if you're trying to save some money...
1. OPENOFFICE (www.OpenOffice.org)
I've written about OpenOffice in the past (here's the link) and I've been using it as my word processor, database and spreadsheet for three years. There's a small learning curve, but considering that OpenOffice is free, 100% MS Office compatible and comes with nice features such as the ability to save files as PDF, I think it's one of the best value deals out there. Between my home and office I have six PCs. Using OpenOffice saves me a fortune when it comes to productivity tools. The only problem I see is that OpenOffice.org doesn't come with an email client...however...
2.THUNDERBIRD (MOZILLA MESSAGING) EMAIL CLIENT (www.mozillamessaging.com)
Full featured and comes with an RSS feed reader. This is a decent email client. Thunderbird has a built-in spam filter which learns over time, has an email encryption tool, can be run from a USB drive (stick) and you don't have a ton of bells and whistles that you won't need. If you want a calendar, you can download the plug-in, and there are a ton of these. Oh, and you can migrate to Thunderbird from Outlook and Outlook Express.
3.SKYPE (www.Skype.org)
No, this is not satellite television. Skype is an instant messenger / PC-to-PC calling system / PC-based phone...you name it. I used Skype all the time. With a headset and an Internet connection, I have a good telephone. It's free to talk to other Skype users which I do a lot. Many of these are long-distance “calls” and overseas conversations and the quality, 9 times out of 10, is as good as a land line. Calls from Skype to a phone do incur charges and there are plans to choose from. You can also forward your phone to Skype and vice versa. At minimum, Skype is a good instant messaging client. Users can also show their desktop to other callers and share files with a drag-and-drop.
4.ZONE ALARM (www.ZoneAlarm.com)
When it comes to security, I'm always a little wary of free products. Perhaps it's because I feel safer if I've purchased it, who knows? The ZoneAlarm firewall (by CheckPoint, one of the names in computer security) is available for free. It's a basic firewall, but it's an effective firewall. Combine it with anti-virus / spam filtering / browser protection and you've got some good security going on!
5.AVG (www.AVG.com)
If you want a free anti-virus product, AVG is probably the best-known. Their free package comes with anti-virus protection and surfing protection (links are checked for you). There are minimal features in the free version. If you want spam filtering, online file sharing protection, identity protection, etc, then you'll need to upgrade to a paid license.
5 more next time!
My name is, Dave Segrove and I am owner of JDE LTD a Phoenix web design company and small business marketing service provider. We have developed an excellent reputation in Arizona and around the US for good wor and efficient and effective marketing solutions. You can see samples from my web design portfolio at www.JDELtd.com. You can learn more about our marketing products and services at www.JDEMarketing.com.
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