Purpose of this page:
I realize this article is way off the Locost topic but I as long as the Locost movement is about helping other people building their own sportscar I thought I'd list some of the free programs that I use. I have been using most of them for years. Some like ExfiCleaner I recently installed.
You can click on the titles listed below to go directly to the software download page.
Comodo: (Firewall, antivirus protection, defender)
Comodo is an established program that is free for a basic version that works very well and a paid version that has more features. I started using the free version with Windows 2000 and each new OS from then on. I've never had any problem with virus or other bugs using this program. While there are many other antivirus etc programs available I always ended up coming back to Comodo.
See this site for a comparison of various firewall type programs.
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FireFox: (Browser and with add-ons it can make your Internet experience even better.)
This is another older based program that has gone through several names and versions. It just keeps getting better all the time! Once you get used to using it I doubt you'll go back to whatever you were using as a browser before. It is fast to load new pages, has many add-ons that allow it to do even more things etc.
FireFox add-ons: (All of these work with the latest version of FireFox.)
- AutoPager allows several pages of a website to be pre-downloaded so you can just scroll down from one page to the next.
- Cooliris is the popular Cooliris "wall" of websites and pictures etc
- CoolPreviews This very handy add-on allows you to preview a website without opening it. You can also "stack" sites to visit later.
- DownloadHelper I use this add-on to quickly download YouTube videos.
- FireFTP If you have a website you will find this freebie to be a very easy way to publish your articles, arrange your folders etc.
- Ghostery alerts users about the web bugs, ad networks and widgets on visited web pages.
- RetailMeNot automatically informs you of sites that retailmenot.com users have shared discount coupon codes for. Handy to have.
ThunderBird: (Mail client to go with your FireFox browser)
You can set ThunderBurp so your emails are kept on their server or download them to your computer. Having the emails on their server allows you to access them from any computer or smart phone anywhere you have an Internet or data connection. The program has many features that are useful.
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KompoZer: (This is the program I use to compose this website.)
KompoZer is absolutely free with beta versions also available. I prefer version 0.7.10 myself. I knew absolutely nothing about .html source code when I started writing this website. The program has 4 different views you can switch to while composing your .html file so after awhile you learn how to go right into the source code to do things that the program seems to not want to do sometimes. The views are Normal, HTML Tags, Source and Preview.
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FireFTP: (OK, after you have used KompoZer to create a website, how do you actually load the files into the server? Why you use FireFTP of course! :-)
I've used several different free programs to "publish" my website pages but FireFTP really is one of the best. You can select different directories, website pages etc etc the program will do the publishing with the click of a button and give you detailed information about the progress of the upload/download.
You need to enter your FTP information (ID & password etc) into the program right after the installation but after that everything is done for you. Quick, simple and it works with no problems.
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ExfiCleaner: (This is an interesting and useful program that I installed recently.)
When you take photos with the new digital cameras, cell phones or a smart cell phone there is a lot of information that is recorded within the picture file. Mostly information about the exposure, aperture etc etc. You can see this information when you are viewing the file with "details" turned on. I realized that some of that information was in the picture but I didn't know that there was much more information that you don't normally see, but with the correct program it is all visible.
I in particular did NOT want some of that other information attached to my Internet photos. This information included the make and model of the camera used to take the pictures and my exact GPS coordinates. You might not want to advertise that information either.
ExfiCleaner allows you to select what information you want to delete (and the list is very long!) and what is OK to leave in the picture. An added benefit is that by removing the EXFI inormation the picture file size becmes smaller. You can select individual files or whole folders for cleaning. The program is simple to use and doesn't take much effort to learn how to use it.
Click on pictures to see an
enlarged view.
Two screen shots of ExfiCleaner before and after removing the EXIF data.
Sample picture with EXIF data.
Same picture with EXIF
data removed.
I left one line of information in the program screen shot to illustrate that the picture shown is the same picture with the data removed.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
The actual pictures of "Rat Fink" before and after removing the data.
Click to see full size original picture. Click to see full size cleaned picture.
I left one line of information in the program screen shot to illustrate that the picture shown is the same picture with the data removed.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
The actual pictures of "Rat Fink" before and after removing the data.
Click to see full size original picture. Click to see full size cleaned picture.
The file size of
the above "original" picture is about 217 Kb. The file size
of the
"cleaned" picture is about 186 Kb.
For this picture that is a file size decrease of 14%. The actual
picture detail etc when viewed with Irfan View is
unchanged after removing the EXFI details.
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GiveAwayOfTheDay: (Now here is a great deal. ABSOLUTELY FREE SOFTWARE EVERY DAY!)
This
website has arranged with various software companies to give away
one of their programs (usually a new version or a new program) for 24
hours. If you like the software you can easily register it free. The only
requirement is that you install it within the 24 hour giveaway time
period. You can install it on more than one computer etc.
I got ExfiCleaner from this website. The software companies can get feedback on the program for improvements etc and you get a free program! Leaving feedback is NOT required though. No sign up, no nothing, if you like the software, download it and it's yours.
I got ExfiCleaner from this website. The software companies can get feedback on the program for improvements etc and you get a free program! Leaving feedback is NOT required though. No sign up, no nothing, if you like the software, download it and it's yours.
This is today's FREE program.
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Dropbox; (Store your stuff privately or for others to see all in the cloud)
This program is
really good for
various purposes. Basically it acts like a normal folder on
your
hard drive that you can use like any other folder (copy files to it,
delete files, run them etc etc.) except the folder is actually located
at a secure server on the web. The free account gives you 2
GB of
storage space. It works on smart phones too. You can add sub
folders to the Dropbox folder which are all private and can be seen
only by you.
I frequently use it to securely transfer huge files from one computer to another. I just paste the file into Dropbox, go to the other computer (anywhere in the world with internet), open Dropbox on that computer and do what I need to do with the file. I've used Dropbox to send a .zip file to a friend because he couldn't receive it as an email attachment.
The program also has "shared" and "private" folders. It is possible to place pictures or files (for instance) for others to see if you give give them the address of the sub-folder in your DropBox. You can also link to photos for anyone to see when you post to forums etc. To see a picture I have on my public folder click here.
Notice that you don't have to have Dropbox installed to see the picture but if you didn't have the link you wouldn't be able to find the picture on the cloud.
The best thing to do if this sounds interesting to you is to go to the Dropbox website and watch the video to get an idea of what it is used for.
If you want to download the program PLEASE use this link so you and I will each get an extra 250 MB of storage space FREE! There are no strings attached, no spam emails etc. They make their money if you need more storage space. The free version is just that, free.
I frequently use it to securely transfer huge files from one computer to another. I just paste the file into Dropbox, go to the other computer (anywhere in the world with internet), open Dropbox on that computer and do what I need to do with the file. I've used Dropbox to send a .zip file to a friend because he couldn't receive it as an email attachment.
The program also has "shared" and "private" folders. It is possible to place pictures or files (for instance) for others to see if you give give them the address of the sub-folder in your DropBox. You can also link to photos for anyone to see when you post to forums etc. To see a picture I have on my public folder click here.
Notice that you don't have to have Dropbox installed to see the picture but if you didn't have the link you wouldn't be able to find the picture on the cloud.
The best thing to do if this sounds interesting to you is to go to the Dropbox website and watch the video to get an idea of what it is used for.
If you want to download the program PLEASE use this link so you and I will each get an extra 250 MB of storage space FREE! There are no strings attached, no spam emails etc. They make their money if you need more storage space. The free version is just that, free.