Tools
Here are some useful tools that can help you in your every day computing endeavor. Please keep in mind that some of them are freeware, others - you have to buy (watch for the $). Well, without further ado, here we go:
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A WinZip is a great little tool that lets you to archive the files. Although you can get away with the Windows' archiver, WinZip has a little more juice. $
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A WinRAR is another archiver similar to the WinZip, only this one’s on steroids. It can compress files, split large files into smaller chunks, create self extracting archives and much much more. $
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If paying for software is not your thing, you can get away with a 7Zip tool which is free.
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Should the need for improving your typing skills occur, MAXTYPE LITE is your friend.
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While Microsoft Office ($) is great, it can get pretty costly, the OpenOffice is not. As a mater a fact, it’s free!
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Adobe Acrobat is a great tool to view *.pdf files. But if you need to create one, you can get the Acrobat Pro ($) or ActivePDF can help you for the price of…well, nothing.
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Skype is a great program if you want to talk to your family in another city, state or country. Computer-to-computer calls are free and Computer-to-phone has a fee attached to it: very fair one, though. Please note that if you have a webcam, you can use it as a videophone.
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PAINT.NET 3 is a powerful piece of software that allows you to edit images and pictures.
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BelArc advisor is great for cataloging your computer. It will give you a complete list of all the software you have, drivers version, serial numbers, hardware configuration and much more.
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Core FTP LE is a full featured ftp client that lets you transfer files from ftp servers.
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A Firefox is a great browser with many cool features and unbelievably secure. I have been using it for many years and have been absolutely happy with it.
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Feeling a little bored, not a problem. EclipeCrossWorld, Glest, Mario Forever, Ocular Ink, 123 Solitaire, Scorched 3D, and the Street Challenge can keep you occupied until your boss walks into your neck of the woods.
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Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 to repair the security holes is available and Microsoft website. You can also download it right from here to avoid hunting it down at the windows site. If you have office files made in older versions, you may have to download small patches to change the registry settings to allow those files to open.
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Disckeeper is a program that takes care of your fragmentation problem attacking it from the source: instead of defragmenting you hard drive when it is in a bad shape, it does not let it fragment to begin with. ($)