We’re down to optional software now, things you might find handy in some situations but not every day. The longer you use your new computer, the more these programs will make sense.
1. GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) is a powerful and FREE image editor, easily as good as Photoshop or any of the editing software that came with your digital camera. You can work on RAW files, too.
2. Cathy is a free tool that lets you keep track of your backup CDs and DVDS. First you burn the CD/DVD with all of your data on it, then you have Cathy scan it. Once you do that, you can search Cathy’s database for the exact file you want and know immediately what disc it is on. You don’t install Cathy. It runs from a your desktop or from your Dropbox folder. The files it creates, in other words the databases for each CD or DVD, are stored with the program and you can move the whole Cathy folder around with you, moving it from computer to computer.
3. WinDirStat does one thing and it does it very well. It creates a map of any drive that you have attached to your computer. As hard drives get larger and larger, keeping track of your files gets very difficult. WinDirStat creates an image of a drive, showing you graphically what files are where. Large files are shown as large squares, color-coded depending on the type of tile they are. As you download videos or edit large digital photos, your hard drive can get pretty crowded. Use WinDirStat to find and archive your precious videos and images. Here’s a screenshot:
Names at the top, images of files on the bottom.
4. LibreOffice is a full-fledged office suite, the equal of Microsoft Office but with one big difference. It’s free. LibreOffice will interact with Microsoft Office perfectly so there is no need to feel that you won’t be able to send documents around to your friends or co-workers. Here’s a screenshot of the various parts of LibreOffice:
Six apps within one suite.
5. Calibre takes care of all of your digital books, keeping track of them on your computer and converting virtually any Ebook format to any other Ebook format. It’s fast and free and works perfectly.
These are five free programs that are available. Sure, there are more but the selection that we’ve described in our last two or three posts will get you on your way. If you have favorites, please let us know.
Once you’ve got an email account set up and your anti-virus software working, it’s time to start setting up Windows. You did some of that the first time you turned it on but now it’s time to take a look at Windows Update.
As you probably know all too well, Windows needs to update itself almost daily. Millions of hackers around the world are trying to find ways to get into your computer and Microsoft spends time and money trying to keep you safe. Windows Update is a part of Windows that automatically sends you the latest changes. Here are the settings available to you:
We’ve chosen to take a look at the updates first, then choose which ones to download and install.
We would suggest the second choice (third from the top) if you are new to computing. That way, you can choose the time to install the updates as opposed to Windows doing it for you. Why? Because Windows doesn’t care if you are in the middle of something when it is updating your computer. If you let it, Windows will restart your computer when it needs to as opposed to you choosing to do it when you want to. We know what we’re doing, most of the time anyway, so we like to see what Windows is installing before it is installed. We don’t expect you to do that. For the most part, you’re safe using the ‘Download updates but let me choose whether to install them.”
TIP: Don’t forget to check for updates at least once a month, every two weeks is better. There will be a little icon on the lower right of your taskbar that will indicate an update is available:
Windows Update Icon
Next comes the fun part, at least for us. Every computer we set up has a set of standard software that we download and install after we’ve got the security features enabled. NOTE: All of the following programs are completely free. Yes, FREE!
Here’s the list:
1. Although Microsoft pretends that Internet Explorer is totally safe and vital to the future of the free world, we immediately download and install Google Chrome. Then we stop using Internet Explorer completely. No matter what Microsoft says, Internet Explorer is NOT safe. It’s also molasses slow. Don’t use it. Use Chrome.
2. Once Chrome is installed, we feel safe and start to download the other software that we need. First up is the Video Lan Player. Windows 8 doesn’t come with a DVD player, believe it or not. No matter, VLC will play any video file or DVD that you throw at it. Download it, install it and relax.
The VLC icon. You’ll get used to this one, we think.
3. Next up is Irfanview. We’ve written about this superb free program before, many times. You can view all of your photos with Irfanview plus it has a few tools to help you work with your digital pictures. Download it and install it and make sure you download the plugins too. The plugins will open up virtually any type of RAW file there is. No need to use the software that came with your digital camera unless you really want to. Irfanview does it all. Check out our past posts on this brilliant program (go to the main page and search for irfanview). It’s simply the best there is.
4. Burnaware , the free version, is necessary to backup your data (photos, videos, documents) to CDs or DVDs. Use blank DVD -R, they’re cheaper than CDS and have a much greater capacity. Once Burnaware is installed, all you have to do it pop in a blank DVD, choose your burn options, drag and drop files into the window and that’s it. Click the burn button and you’re done.
5. Most of us use Skype to communicate with friends and relatives. Microsoft has purchased Skype so now you can sign in with your hotmail or live account. You can chat with video, video and mic or just by typing in the chat window. Skype to Skype calls are always free and while you could investigate making telephone calls using it, we think there are better alternatives. There are many ways to make free phone calls, depending on where you live. If you’re in North America, free telephony is as easy as opening a Gmail account. We use WeChat and Yahoo Messenger as well as QQ for our international video conferencing but we do use Skype with relatives in our own country.
These are the programs that we can’t live without when we get a new computer. There are others, of course, that we like to add. Tomorrow, we’ll outline some of them. Remember that every piece of hardware that you add to your computer, things such as printers, scanners, webcams, external hard drives, etc, will want to add their own programs. Some of these programs do double-duty, too. This means that they work with the hardware that they came with but they also do other things. It’s worthwhile to check what else some of these bits of software will do that might be helpful.
We’ll run through some optional programs in our next post. These would be programs that we find useful but, depending on your computer use, might not interest you. Stay tuned for that.
Yesterday we posted about computing for seniors. Well, today we headed out and gave some assistance to the prospective purchaser. Things worked out better than we thought and we ended up with a very good deal on a 14″ Acer touchscreen laptop. It had good specs (8 gigs of ram and a healthy sized hard drive, Windows 8) and seemed to be just the right size. We weren’t looking for a desktop replacement, but a Chromebook would have been far too small. In addition to the computer, we picked up a small wireless all-in-one inkjet printer by HP. Total for everything, including 500 sheets of paper and a spare black ink cartridge was less than $700.00, proving that you don’t have to break the bank to get online.
This is what we got, a slim mid-size touchscreen Acer.
Once everything was settled, we started to consider the setup process. As you may know, there are a few things that you should do before heading to Google or Youtube. Here’s what we’d suggest, step by step:
1. All new computers come with what we call ‘bloatware’. Bloatware is software that is loaded onto the computer by the manufacturer in the hopes that you might actually buy some of it. This usually includes various versions of antivirus software, Internet ‘safety’ kits as well as games and, usually, a free-ish version of Microsoft Office. Our first step would be to eliminate as much of this bloatware as possible, starting with the antivirus applications.
Microsoft has its own antivirus application that’s free, believe it or not. It’s called Microsoft Security Essentials. Click on the words to get it. Once you install it, you’re just as safe as with any of the other professional (meaning pay) software. Windows already has a firewall built into it so that’s all you need. Make sure you update the virus database at least once a month and either scan your computer on a weekly basis or set up a schedule for scanning.
2. Every ISP lets you use their email for free. Well, we’re not fans of ISP email programs, preferring free online options such as Outlook or Gmail. Outlook has pretty much dropped the ‘hotmail’ domain name, switching to ‘live’ instead, so you don’t have to worry about being old-fashioned. Gmail is an option too but Windows 8 seems tied to all things Microsoft and Outlook might be your best bet. We have both but we use Outlook much more often.
Why use a free email service? Mainly because you will always have that address, even if you change ISPs. These online services have strong anti-malware checking built-in to the site. You have to go out of your way to get something nasty on your computer if you use one of the free sites. Lastly, your email stays on their site, not on your computer. You won’t lose your messages or photos if your computer crashes. They’re online so they’re safe.
TIP: Don’t confuse the Outlook application that is on your computer with the outlook.com site. The software that is on your computer is obscure, to say the least, and is very confusing to use. Yes, you can access your email from it but it’s much more difficult to understand. Head to outlook.com, sign up for a free account and you’re away.
TIP: Make your username as unusual as possible. If your name is Elsa, for instance, choose something like elsa_elsa_85. Why? Because spammers make up names and spam them automatically. If you use some arcane username, more than likely the spammers will never find you. We have a couple of email accounts that get NO spam at all. Others, with more easily imitated names, get spam every day.
TIP: Don’t get hooked into extra-cost warranties or anything to do with Microsoft Office. There is usually a free version of Microsoft Word on any Windows computer and, if not, there is always Libre Office , a totally free, open-source alternative. Buy the computer, that’s it, no matter what the salesman says. If they get too persistent, just walk out of the store.
That’s enough for now. Next time we’ll look at what software we would install on a new computer. If you have questions or suggestions or comments, feel free to use the form below to contact us.
Thanks for reading!
a little bit of hi-tech, a little bit of common sense and a lot of fun
