Computer Software - Why pay for Programs?
Freeware photography programs to edit and produce
and to destroy those unwanted cookies and other spyware
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Don't get clogged up - de-fragment regulary
FREEWARE
First, how come freeware is free ? Most of these programmes are available to download on websites which either have advertising on them, so they hope you'll click on a banner or they are getting a small amount of money for embedding a cookie into your PC. Before you panic and push the delete on all of the cookies in your PC, bare in mind that some are quite useful as a 'remember me' logon and password to your favourite forums or shopping pages etc., saves you time when visiting that site. Not all cookies are harmful.
So, that out the way, there are many many PC Tools and Utilities which will save you loads of money. Why spend out on Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, Firewalls etc., when you don't have to.
Personally, I've AVG Anti-Virus, Zone Alarm Firewall, Ad-Aware and Spybot anti spyware programmes which I haven't paid a penny for and do the job just as well as known paid for brands. In fact one or two named brands I could mention take over your PC, are very resource draining and affect your PC performance.
I also use cCleaner, a free tool for generally clearing your PC of unwanted files etc. Plus it will manage the cookies you want to keep after cleaning out the Temporary Internet Files.
You can even obtain Photo editing programmes such as Infranview which will give you all the necessary for basic editing such as re-sizing, cropping, sharpening focus, changing colour effects etc. Most of us don't need any more than that.
If you're fed up with Outlook Express, try Thunderbird email. If you're fed up with Internet Explorer, try Avant, Opera or Firefox. They're all free and a variation for you to find the right one to suit you. With internet browsers, you can have them all on your PC if you wish and swop and change whenever you wish. Best to stick with one email programme though as you're sure to lose something by going from one to the other.
The beauty of freeware is that if you don't like it, you uninstall and try something else.
Watch what sites you go to for some of these because of the cookie / spyware threats. I use snapfiles.com who give you a wide range of programmes to download, show screenshots and have users reviews. Also download.com and zd are similar. Better still, go to the manufacturers site itself ie Do a google on 'Thunderbird Home Page' and download direct.
SHAREWARE
Shareware is basically a trial or demo of a certain product. This is particulary useful when you are wanting a programme to use but is not available in any freeware.
Loads of programmes serve the same purpose and have the end result, but may not be right or easy for you personally to use or they don't get on with your PC for some reason.
By downloading a shareware product you can get about 30 days (on average) free use of it, then either buy it or go onto another. I guess it would be possible to use
First, how come freeware is free ? Most of these programmes are available to download on websites which either have advertising on them, so they hope you'll click on a banner or they are getting a small amount of money for embedding a cookie into your PC. Before you panic and push the delete on all of the cookies in your PC, bare in mind that some are quite useful as a 'remember me' logon and password to your favourite forums or shopping pages etc., saves you time when visiting that site. Not all cookies are harmful.
So, that out the way, there are many many PC Tools and Utilities which will save you loads of money. Why spend out on Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, Firewalls etc., when you don't have to.
Personally, I've AVG Anti-Virus, Zone Alarm Firewall, Ad-Aware and Spybot anti spyware programmes which I haven't paid a penny for and do the job just as well as known paid for brands. In fact one or two named brands I could mention take over your PC, are very resource draining and affect your PC performance.
I also use cCleaner, a free tool for generally clearing your PC of unwanted files etc. Plus it will manage the cookies you want to keep after cleaning out the Temporary Internet Files.
You can even obtain Photo editing programmes such as Infranview which will give you all the necessary for basic editing such as re-sizing, cropping, sharpening focus, changing colour effects etc. Most of us don't need any more than that.
If you're fed up with Outlook Express, try Thunderbird email. If you're fed up with Internet Explorer, try Avant, Opera or Firefox. They're all free and a variation for you to find the right one to suit you. With internet browsers, you can have them all on your PC if you wish and swop and change whenever you wish. Best to stick with one email programme though as you're sure to lose something by going from one to the other.
The beauty of freeware is that if you don't like it, you uninstall and try something else.
Watch what sites you go to for some of these because of the cookie / spyware threats. I use snapfiles.com who give you a wide range of programmes to download, show screenshots and have users reviews. Also download.com and zd are similar. Better still, go to the manufacturers site itself ie Do a google on 'Thunderbird Home Page' and download direct.
SHAREWARE
Shareware is basically a trial or demo of a certain product. This is particulary useful when you are wanting a programme to use but is not available in any freeware.
Loads of programmes serve the same purpose and have the end result, but may not be right or easy for you personally to use or they don't get on with your PC for some reason.
By downloading a shareware product you can get about 30 days (on average) free use of it, then either buy it or go onto another. I guess it would be possible to use
only shareware almost on a permanant basis if it's something you only do once in a while.
Something to watch out for here is that it's not always the full product, so there's certain things you may not be able to achieve. Most sites will tell you if it's the full product or not.
I've avoided shareware programmes on any Anti-Virus and Firewall etc. Most of these change the registry on your computer in some way and may be extremely difficult to get rid of if you don't like it.
Another thing to be wary of is when you're doing the install on either freeware or shareware are the windows which pop up at high speed. Do you really want this programme to start up when you switch the computer on ? Do you really want automatic up-dates ? These will mean it's yet another programme running in the background eating up some of your resources.
Finally, if you're moving onto something new, make sure you uninstall the one you don't like first. You, like me once, can have too many 'tweaky' things and no one of them will 'tweak' in exactly the same way. Best not to confuse the hard drive - it's very important !
Something to watch out for here is that it's not always the full product, so there's certain things you may not be able to achieve. Most sites will tell you if it's the full product or not.
I've avoided shareware programmes on any Anti-Virus and Firewall etc. Most of these change the registry on your computer in some way and may be extremely difficult to get rid of if you don't like it.
Another thing to be wary of is when you're doing the install on either freeware or shareware are the windows which pop up at high speed. Do you really want this programme to start up when you switch the computer on ? Do you really want automatic up-dates ? These will mean it's yet another programme running in the background eating up some of your resources.
Finally, if you're moving onto something new, make sure you uninstall the one you don't like first. You, like me once, can have too many 'tweaky' things and no one of them will 'tweak' in exactly the same way. Best not to confuse the hard drive - it's very important !
It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy. ~
George Horace Lorimer
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— John F. Kennedy