my freeware faves:
20 April 2012
interwebz
- Web browser: Google Chrome is the fastest.
- Email: Gmail!.
utilities
- CCleaner: a great system cleaner that removes temp files, internet history, etc, and can clean your Windows Registry.
- 7-zip: an archiving program similar to Winzip, only opensource and free. Windows has this functionality built in now, but 7-zip is much faster and offers more options.
- Nirsoft has TONS of useful freeware Windows utilities.
graphics
- XnView: a picture viewer. Offers a fast, configurable thumbnail browser, as well as a very efficient and tweak-able web page builder. See the results here.
- Sumatra: ultra-lightweight PDF Reader.
- Cute PDF: a PDF "printer". This little freeware will install a virtual printer on your computer. You can print anything you would normally send to your "real" printer to be printed as a PDF. Handy!"
multimedia
- SMPlayer: my new default media player. It plays pretty much anything you throw at it, plus it has one feature I really like: it remembers where you left off!
- VLC Media Player: until I found SMPlayer, this was my go-to video player. Plays pretty much anything without having to download codecs.
- VirtualDub: a free video editor.
- Audacity: a free audio editor.
security
- Microsoft Security Essentials is clearly the best free, lightweight antivirus option.
- Secunia PSI is a really neat Software Inspector that will check the vulnerability of programs installed on your PC.
I don't install any "anti-spyware" programs because they slow down my computer. If you suspect you have an infection, there are a few good freeware scanners you can try:
If these don't work, it's probably easiest to reinstall Windows. Seriously.
backup
Back up your files on an external hard drive daily! Your computer hard drive can die at any time: do you really want to lose everything on your computer?
- SyncBack: A really decent freeware backup application.
- SyncBack SE: More options; $40 I think?
If your house burns down, you could still lose your external hard drive, so use online backup for these files. There are many free and premium (expensive) online backup options available, use one. I like iDrive, but there is Mozy, SugarSync, GoogleDrive, Microsoft SkyDrive, MegaUpload -- oh wait, no....
learn Windows
Learn to work Windows! The biggest stumbling block my clients have: they are unclear how their filesystem works (or even what a "file" is, and it's not the yellow folder thingie), and how to manage files (Copy-Cut-Move-Paste) and organize them into folders.
If you are a photographer, you will accumulate lots of image files; you need an efficient workflow and an archiving and backup system in place. Bear in mind that a hard drive can stop working at anytime, so always have at least one backup copy of all your important files.
Seriously, push F1, read a tutorial, hire me....whatever works best for you, learn how Windows works.
