Talk at the Kinnelon Library Wed Mar 11 on Free Software Programs for Your PC

1. How To Take Care of Your
Computer
for Little or No Money
6 Part Series
Part 4 – The Best FREE Software
– Replace Commercial Software
– Software You Never Knew Existed
– Question and Answer Session
Ted Whittemore
The Working Computers Blog & Kinnelon Computers
www.kinneloncomputers.com

2. Who is Ted Whittemore?
• Owner of Working Computers and the
Working Computers Blog
• Has worked in computer services industry
since 1987 building, servicing, and selling
computer systems, software and
maintenance

3. www.kinneloncomputers.com

4. What’s the Plan for today?
• Take a look at a number of Free software
programs from first-quality makers, that replace
commercial programs
• Discuss how to get them and install them
• Discuss what they do and why they are as good or
better
• Discuss where to get more of such programs
• Answer questions and solve problems
*All of the subjects covered are also in articles in the
Working Computers Blog, @
www.kinneloncomputers.com

5. Before We Deal With These Issues
• Feel free to ask specific questions
about the topic we are covering
• Please save general questions for the
end

6. Why Use Free Software?
• Do I really have to answer that?
• It’s Free. It’s Good. It costs no money
now or later.
• You will never have to worry about a
product key, serial number, or license
again.
• Commercial Software can be very
expensive, a pain in the neck, and a
permanent leach on your pocketbook.

7. How did you Choose the Free Programs?
MS Office
LibreOffice
Writer Calc Impress Draw Base Math
• I picked commercial software programs that you
may already be using and that costs the most
money and that have excellent drop in
replacement substitutes, or I picked programs that
work better.
• They are programs primarily that replace productivity
suites, or utilities.

8. Free Programs
• LibreOffice – MS Office Replacement
• Google Picasa – Best Picture Library/Printer
• Google Chrome – Best/Fastest Web Browser
• Skype – Best VOIP Phone/Video Program
• Gadwin PrintScreen – Best Free Screen Capture
• Imgburn – Best CD/DVD Burning/Ripping Utility
• MalwareBytes – Best Disinfection Utility
• AVG Free – Best Free Anti-Virus Utility
• FreeMake - Best Video/Audio Downloader/Converters
• 7-Zip – Best Free Compression/Extraction

9. LibreOffice
1. Includes Drop-In Replacements for MS
Word Applications
2. Supports all File Types Supported by Office
3. Go to the Maker’s Website with the Code
You Have Received and Option Your
Machine
4. Not only is it Free, but it is part of an
ongoing development effort that will
maintain and continue it
5. There is also a portable version that does
not need to be installed.

10. Google
• Picasa is a library/catalog, a light editor, a
fantastic printer, and uploader/sharer, and
an emailer.
• Picasa offers tutorials in its Help section,
and is intuitive to use.
• You can find Free In-Depth Articles on its
Use at picasatutorials.com

11. Google
• A Drop-In Replacement for MS Internet
Explorer, it:
• Loads itself up to 10X Faster
• Loads Web Pages up to 10X faster
• Has built-in Flash and Java Support
• Breathes New Life into Older Computers
• Integrates well with Google Search

12. Skype
• Computer to Computer Calls, Video or Voice
Only are Free
• Computer to Handset – Cell or Landline are
Cheap
• Video calling is Cool and Fun
• HD WebCams and Microphones are Cheap
• If you know someone’s email, phone number
and/or Skype name, you can call that person!

13. WebCam Deals
•Look for a 720P or Higher Resolution Autofocus Camera with Microphone
•Good places to Look: Newegg, Amazon, Techbargains and Logicbuy
•2 choices, two for the low end, and one for the high end:
•The Microsoft Lifecam HD-3000:
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-T3H-00001-LifeCam-HD-3000/dp/B004ETQHDM
at $27
•The Logitech HD Webcam C-310:
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-960-000585-HD-Webcam-C310/dp/B003LVZO8S
at $35
•The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 with1080p Widescreen Video Calling
and Recording:
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Widescreen-Calling-Recording-960-000764/dp/B0

14. Gadwin PrintScreen
• Gadwin PrintScreen is a
Screen Capture Program that
allows you to save any part of
the visible computer screen to
a picture file.
• Why would you want to do
that?
• To share what you can see
with others, for fun, tech-
support, or explanation
• Many of the graphics in this
presentation have been
captured with Gadwin
PrintScreen.

15. Another Capture
You can capture to a file as a photo, to email, or to the printer.

16. ImgBurn
How many of you use the clunk burning and ripping
facilities of Nero, Roxio, or Windows to write to
Optical Media such as CDs, DVDs, or BDs?
If all you want to do is
burn or rip, use ImgBurn
instead. It’s Free, Quick,
Easy, and you don’t
have to slog through all
of the complicated stuff
that the big, commercial
programs throw in your
way.
Plays the Mexican Hat
Dance on Succesful
Completion!!!

17. MalwareBytes
• Will Dis-Infect Your Computer for Free
• Will Run When the Infection has Prevented All
Other Program Execution
• Works Almost All of the Time
• Must Be Run Manually
• Must Be Run Until No Infection Shows
• Does Not Interfere with AV and IS Programs
• Run Whenever You are Worried About Infection

18. MS Security Essentials or AVG Free
MSE AVG
Which to Use?
It’s a matter of preference – both are very good – MSE is very quiet, and will
not solicit you to upgrade to a commercial license, plus it will update itself
along with the OS, and you will never have to bother with it again, unless it has
not run a scan for some reason.
AVG is a very well respected AV program that continually tops the ratings for
Free AV programs.
Remember – You cannot run multiple AV or IS programs at once – The rule is
one at a time, and previous installs must be removed first.

19. MSE and AVG
• MSE is available for Win7, Vista, and XP 32 bit
• AVG Free is available for all Win7, Vista, and XP
• See:
• http://free.avg.com
/us-en/free-antivirus-download
• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/

20. Freemake
• Use Your Computer as it Was Meant to Be USed
• As a Music and Video Player for Media You Could
Not Otherwise Acquire.
• Did You Know that You Can Download the Videos
and Music from YouTube and other Flash based
sites with Free Video and Audio Programs?
• Freemake Downloader will Download Videos and
Music to Your Computer Easily for Replay
• It will Save the Video and Audio or the Audio alone
for Replay by Windows Media Player or iTunes, or…
• Go Find the Music, or Videos that You like, and …

21. Freemake Video Downloader

22. Freemake Video Converter

23. Freemake Video Converter Continued

24. Freemake Video Converter continued

25. Freemake Audio Converter

26. 7-Zip

27. What is 7-Zip Good For?
Basically – Dealing with All of those Compressed
File formats out there on the internet, and there are
a lot of them.
If a particular website has an instruction manual in
ARJ, or RAR format, once you have downloaded it,
after you have installed 7-Zip, you can Right-
Mouse-Click on the file and highlight the context
menu item for 7-Zip extraction of the contents.

28. 7-Zip Context Menu

29. Where Can I Get More Free
Software?
• PC Magazine publishes an annual list:
• This Year it’s The Best Free Software of 2012 at
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381532,00.a
• CNET at www.cnet.com is a great searchable
repository of almost all of the free and not-
free software around with Reader’s and
Editor’s Reviews.
• You have to be careful with some CNET
software that is not Editor reviewed – some
have had malware, but you can trust the PC
Magazine ware.

30. PC Magazine

31. CNET

32. Honorable Mentions
• Win 7 Snipping Tool and Screen Capture
• Only for Win 7 -- in the Accessories Folder

33. Summary
• This Presentation and all links will be up on the
Working Computers Blog shortly – you do not
need to take notes if you don’t want to.
• These Topics and a lot more are covered on the
Working Computers site, along with links to
software and sites for easy downloading.
• Remember, it’s all at
www.kinneloncomputers.com

34. Questions??

35. Please Assess Seminar
• There are Assessment Sheets for this talk
available on the table, and I should have
already handed them out – Please take a
moment to tell us what you think and give
us any suggestions you may have.
• Thanks!

36. www.kinneloncomputers.com/

37. Contact Information
• Ted Whittemore
– Working Computers in Kinnelon, NJ
– http://www.KinnelonComputers.com
– 973-838-2368
– Ted@amgpi.com