| New Software |
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- SyncToy
- "SyncToy 2.1 is a free application that synchronizes files and folders between locations. Typical uses include sharing files, such as photos, with other computers and creating backup copies of files and folders." Highly recommended for simple backups.
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- Paint.NET
- "Free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins." I now use it in preference to my old favorite Paint Shop Pro - great for simple tasks like cropping/resizing/optimizing - highly recommended.
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- Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition
- Sets a new technological standard for virus/spyware/malware protection. See the PC Mag review. I now recommend Cloud over all other anti-virus products. Requires free and easy email registration.
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- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
- "Can detect and remove malware that even the most well known anti-virus and anti-malware applications fail to detect." Free and highly recommended - Install (and keep uo-to-date) even if you have other good anti-virus protection. It is especially good at finding/destroying malware that other programs cannot - run in safe mode if you think you may have an infection.
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- Chrome
- Google's very own browser. Has a lot of features to like, including improved handling of Javascript-heavy sites, like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Google Docs. No need for the Google toolbar - it's built-in! Just type search terms in the address box and press enter! Now the fastest browser, also the safest.
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- Firefox Browser 3.6-3.8
- Release version is 3.6, but if you are using Windows 7 you will be updated to 3.8.
Top features: - Private Browsing: Surf the Web without leaving a single trace.
- Speed enhancements
- Awesome Bar: Find the sites you love in seconds (and without having to remember clunky URLs).
- Super Speed: View Web pages way faster, using less of your computer’s memory.
- Anti-Phishing & Anti-Malware: Enjoy the most advanced protection against online bad guys.
- Session Restore: Unexpected shutdown? Go back to exactly where you left off.
- One-Click Bookmarking: Bookmark, search and organize Web sites quickly and easily.
- Easy Customization: Thousands of add-ons give you the freedom to make your browser your own.
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- Advanced SystemCare Free
- "Advanced SystemCare Free has a one-click approach to helping protect, repair, clean, and optimize your PC. With over 20,000,000 downloads since 2006, this fantastic, award-winning, free program is a "must-have" tool for your computer, 100% safe and clean with no adware, spyware, or viruses." Free and highly recommended.
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- Glary Utilities
- "Offers numerous powerful and easy-to-use system tools and utilities to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC. It allows you to clean common system junk files, as well as invalid registry entries and Internet traces. You can manage and delete browser add-ons, analyze disk space usage and find duplicate files. You can also view and manage installed shell extensions, encrypt your files from unauthorized access and use, split large files into smaller manageable files and then rejoin them. Furthermore, Glary Utilities includes the options to optimize memory, find, fix, or remove broken Windows shortcuts, manage the programs that start at Windows startup and uninstall software. Other features include secure file deletion, an Empty Folder finder and more." Free and highly recommended.
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- VideoLAN
- "A free cross-platform media player, supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs. It can also be used as a streaming server, with extended features (video on demand, on the fly transcoding, ...)" Highly recommended - much simpler and easier to use than Windows Media Player - with a much smaller system resource footprint.
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- OpenDNS
- "OpenDNS is the leading provider of FREE security and infrastructure services that make the Internet safer through integrated Web content filtering, anti-phishing and DNS. OpenDNS services enable consumers and network administrators to secure their networks from online threats, reduce costs and enforce Internet-use policies. OpenDNS is used today by millions of users and organizations around the world." Not really software, at least from the user's side, but a way to protect your computer(s) from many Internet threats. Highly recommended. Takes only minutes to setup (a video tutorial) and gives you immense control (if you setup a free account) over potential security issues, e.g., monitors your network traffic for signs of the Conficker virus. All of this without installing ANY software on your computer(s)!
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- OpenOffice 3.2
- "OpenOffice.org was designed from the start as a single piece of software - not bolted together from separate software packages. This makes it very consistent and easy to use - what you learn in one application is immediately usable in another. The context-sensitive help works across all applications, unobtrusively providing the precise help you need. You can even open any type of document from any application - OpenOffice.org 3 is really one piece of software. It also runs on all major computing platforms - Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, Sun Solaris, Apple Mac." Free and highly recommended.
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- Picasa from Google
- Yet another breakthrough web-software application from Google. You download a small program that allows you to organize and manipulate (simply, powerfully) your images and then publish them ALL AT ONCE to a web albumn for others. Terrific idea! Highly recommended. Latest development: "Picasa Web Albums, Google's free and therefore widely-popular photo-sharing tool, added facial recognition technology to online photo albums."
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- NiNite
- "The easiest way to get [free] apps. 1. Pick your favorite [free] software. 2. Start your customized installer. 3. You're done!
Ninite installs software fast with default settings and says "no" to browser toolbars and other junk.
Ninite checks your PC's language and 64-bit support to install the latest, best version of each program.
Ninite runs on Windows XP/Vista/7 and works in the background unattended and 100% hands-free.
All Ninite does is automatically download and install the apps you select. Not even Ninite is installed." |
- Avast Home Edition
- "Avast Home Edition is a reliable free antivirus solution, that constantly and rapidly scans your computer for malicious programs such as viruses, Trojans, backdoor programs, hoaxes, worms, dialers etc."
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- AVG Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware Free Edition Version 9
- "Get your free copy of the AVG Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware System - AVG Free Edition and you will be able to use it without any limitations for life of the product. You can download free updates to get the latest program virus/spyware databases."
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- IObit Security 360
- "IObit Security 360 is an advanced malware & spyware removal utility that detects, removes the deepest infections, and protects your PC from various of potential spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, bots, worms, and hijackers."
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- PortableApps.com
- "Now you can carry [on your flash drive many useful] computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more. Use them on any Windows computer. All without leaving any personal data behind." Includes portable Firefox and Thunderbird, Open Office, and much more. Free and highly recommended.
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- DeskPins
- "DeskPins can be used to make any application topmost, that is, to keep it above all other windows. Just grab a pin from the DeskPins icon in the system notification area (a.k.a. taskbar tray) and click on any window. This functionality is identical to the "Always on Top" setting found in some programs. With DeskPins you can add this feature to any program!" Marvelously useful, free tool - keep the system calendar, calculator, anything, visible while you edit/create documents.
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| New Sites/Articles |
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- Wolfram Alpha
- The most useful (cogitatingly speaking) thing to hit the web since Google - think of it as a "computational engine for factual knowledge" - see a Flash intro by Stephen Wolfram himself!
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- How PCs Work
- Good overview with image gallery of components. Discusses PC Parts, PC Connections, Powering Up a PC, PC Operating Systems, The Future of PCs, portable PCs.
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- Jim's Top 10 Tips for Optimizing XP/Vista/Windows 7
- Some easy tricks to wring more performance out of XP/Vista/Windows 7.
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- How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs
- "More than 3,800 years ago, illiterate Canaanite laborers working in the turquoise mines of Sinai were responsible for one of the most significant inventions in human history: the alphabet. An Egyptologist and expert in hieroglyphs explores the simple but ingenious ideas that led these miners under hieroglyphic inspiration to create the first-ever alphabetic script."
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- Windows 7 - The Pocket Guide
- A free Windows 7 book (360+ pages pdf) - requires free registration.
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- Windows 7 Product Guide)
- Free from Microsoft a 140 page (pdf) book, profusely illustrated in color
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- Pandora Internet Radio
- Wonderful - great selection of great music in many genres - excellent quality! Absolutely free! No ads!
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- Google Docs & Spreadsheets
- With Google Docs & Spreadsheets, you can:
- Use our online editor to format documents, spell-check and more.
- Upload Word documents, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML or text.
- Download documents to your desktop as Word, PDF and more.
- View your documents' revision history and roll back to any version.
Plus, since its online, you can:
- Invite others to share your documents by e-mail address.
- Edit documents online with whomever you choose.
- Publish documents online to the world, or to just who you choose.
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- National Weather Service's Graphical Forecasts
- Very cool. After this page loads, you can mouseover the links on the left to see progressive color-coded maps of precipitation probabilities, among
other things - this link is to the Mid Atlantic map.
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- Interactive Weather Map
- Weather.com's real-time street-level weather maps. Cool and useful!
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- Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows
- Evaluates "important upcoming technologies, including Microsoft Windows, Windows Server, Office, and Xbox 360, plus related digital media, Internet and home networking, and more, from Microsoft and its competitors. This Web site provides continuous updates about these future products and technologies, while offering reviews, technology showcases, FAQs."
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- Ted.com
- "Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers" - great stuff!
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- Local Gas Prices
- Enter your zip code in the site below, and it tells you which gas stations have the cheapest prices (and the highest) on gas in your zip code area. It's updated every evening.
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- Brainbox
- Nifty brain stretching games from the BBC TV series. If you want a workout to thwart the onset of early senility this will do it. In order to play the games you must have Javascript enabled in your web browserand have at least Flash version 8 on your machine.
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- FreeRice
- An Internet word game has generated enough rice to feed 50,000 people for one day.
The game, FreeRice, tests the vocabulary of participants. For each click on a correct answer, the website donates money to buy 10 grains of rice.
Companies advertising on the website provide the money to the WFP to buy and distribute the rice. FreeRice went online in early October and has now raised 1bn grains of rice.
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- Balderdash & Piffle
- Website to accompany the BBC word hunt program "Balderdash & Piffle" - "the Oxford English Dictionary asked for public assistance to help them trace the history of 40 well-known words and phrases. From 'identity theft' to 'pole dance', Balderdash & Piffle's wordhunters stopped at nothing to do their bit for the English language."
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- LibriVox
- LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain.
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- Dell Coupons/Dell Deals
- Dell Coupons and Dell Coupon Codes page at Cheapstingybargains.com - good source for finding the best current Dell computer deals.
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- Codex
- "A code cracking history challenge set inside the British Museum. Here you can visit the picture galleries to view the museum artefacts, play the ancient history multi-quiz, or watch video clips from the show."
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- ClarkHoward.com
- "Save more, spend less and avoid ripoffs." Consumer information and advise. Very useful.
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- The World's Water
- "A site dedicated to providing up-to-date water information and data"
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- Washington Post Puzzles
- Crosswords, sudoku - includes printable (archived) puzzles
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- USAToday
- Many puzzles, including crosswords, sudoku
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- Casual Printable Crossword
- Seven American-style crosswords are available each day (rotated at midnight eastern time). Solutions available the next day.
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- Newsday Crosswords
- Many daily crosswords, with easy to use interface, that can be saved or printed.
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- Retirement Planning Websites
- From the NC Treasurer's website
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- Snipshot
- "This website allows you to upload images from your computer and edit them. Or you
can enter the Web address of any photo stored online and get a copy with which to work. Snipshot uses nondestructive editing - the original
image that is taken from your computer or the Web remains untouched. The site also keeps a copy of the uploaded image for 24 hours before
discarding it."
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- Princeton University: WebMedia - Lectures
- Many streaming videos of lectures by eminent intellectuals in many fields. Great stuff!
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- Gifford Lectures Online
- "Presents a comprehensive collection of books derived from the Gifford Lectures [a tradition of more than a hundred years]. In addition to the books, the Web site contains a biography of each lecturer and a summary of the lecture or book." Wonderful if you care anything about the confluence of philosophy, science, and theology.
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