The Cost of Free Programs

Computer Care: Beware the costs of free programs

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Aug. 14, 2009 11:30 p.m.

Everyone likes a bargain. There are two-for-one beers, free samples, free parking, free admission, free Wi-Fi and free downloads.

All are great except for the last one. Free downloads are not always free. Well, they may be free, but there is still a price to pay.

Sure, some free downloads make you eventually pay for the program, but that’s not where I’m going. I’ve mentioned this in the past, but it’s worth saying again: A free program is not only free of cost, but free of support as well.

You are on your own when you download a free program from the Internet. Don’t expect help from the site you got it from or from those who wrote the program. Somewhere in all of those OK and Next buttons you initially click is an agreement stating that fact.

You use the program at your own risk. Should something go wrong, it’s on you. You need to know what you are using, how to use it and what it does. This especially holds true with registry tools. In just a couple of wrong mouse clicks, you could turn an $800 laptop into an expensive doorstop.

The first thing to do is make sure your system is healthy. If it’s already on the edge and you push it, there will be consequences.

When you install something on your system — anything — make sure nothing else is running. That means not just closing open windows, but also checking the taskbar. Look over by the clock and close down any programs you don’t need. Everyone has some utilities running there. Right-click and exit them. This is especially true of anti-virus programs.

When you later reboot, they will come back, so don’t worry about restarting them. The less you have running during an installation, the less of a chance you have of something going wrong.

It’s always good practice to create a system restore point prior to installing anything, should something go awry. It will give you a point to return to in case of trouble, kind of like Mr. Peabody’s Way-Back Machine. Some applications will create one for you automatically or at least ask you if you want to create one, but many will not.

From your Start menu in XP, click Accessories, then System Tools and System Restore. Choose to create a restore point. If you prefer to have it always on your start menu, right-click on it and choose: pin to start menu. It will then reside above the line on the left side of the menu.

In Vista, look in Control Panel under Classic view for Backup and Restore Center. In the left column, click on: Create a System Restore Point.

Your anti-virus and anti-malware utilities should have been running when you downloaded those programs you’re about to install. That is when anything malicious would get caught. There are a ton of Trojan horses circulating the Internet and if you are not careful and diligent, one or more will find its way to your computer.

Use reputable Web sites for downloads. Don’t click on every link that flashes "Free" on your screen. If you use online forums to read about others’ experiences with programs, you’ll learn plenty. Sites like download.com allow you to read not only the editor’s comments about programs, but you can see other user’s comments as well. This may help you decide if a program is worthwhile.

Many programs are written by the small guy, as opposed to corporate giants. Often the application written by the guy living in his parents’ basement is the best out there. Should you decide to pay the affordable $24 fee he’ll ask for, you’ll then get all the support you need.

I once had a guy e-mail me from Finland within hours of my query for help. It was well worth the small price I paid for his program.

Keep in mind, I would never recommend a program to you without having first tried it myself. I’ve had readers write, telling me that a program I wrote about was garbage and how could I?

Not every utility will function perfectly on every system. It just doesn’t work that way. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world.

In some cases, as I mentioned, if the computer is already on the edge, all it may take is hitting the Enter key for an error to occur. In others, it may take running a program. But it’s not my fault, whatever the case. So please, don’t kill the messenger.

If you install a lot of programs, remember to delete them if you don’t use them. Why clutter up your hard drive? Then, since you are deleting lots of programs, it’s a good idea to run your defrag utility every now and then. There is always some maintenance involved with computing.

Just keep in mind there are many enticing, free programs on the Internet. Use them wisely and cautiously.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.

Junk Files on your Computer

Computer Care: Clean junk off hard drive for better performance

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

UPDATED July 31, 2009 11:47 p.m.

Computers are magnets for junk files. There are those that Windows needs temporarily and neglects to discard; there are browser histories; installation files and just plain old junk.

Everyone has old e-mails and programs that we once couldn’t do without, but haven’t used in months. Then there are the space hogs, the music and video files. Keeping your system junk-free will help keep it fast.

Just because you put your unused items in the recycle bin doesn’t get them off of your system. You just put the trash in the can, but haven’t taken it out to the curb yet. You need to empty it. Although keeping files in the bin until you know they are truly not needed is a good precaution, you have the option of deleting your trash immediately. Right-click on the Recycle Bin and choose Properties and check the option to empty it.

Even if you delete of all of the above, a good cleaning utility will still find megabytes of garbage on your computer.

It’s not just a matter of keeping it fast; it is also a matter of security. What remains behind after you are done with it, prying eyes may find. There are browser searches, cookies, run commands, the prefetch folder and forms you filled out, some with sensitive information.

You can clean all that manually by clicking this and that, but you need to know where to look, and junk data is hidden in many places. You’d be better off getting a utility to do it for you.

There are dedicated programs to scrub your system, as well as some suites. As always, many can be downloaded for free.

I like CCleaner, a freebie that attaches to your Recycle Bin. You right-click on it to run and in one fell swoop, it cleans a good bit of your junk files then empties the trash can. It can be customized to keep the cookies you want. Get it from www.ccleaner.com/download.

My new favorite tool is a free multi-purpose program from Comodo. System Cleaner is a thorough, easy-to-use utility, available at http://system-cleaner.comodo.com/download.html.

It has a Power Clean option that doesn’t miss a thing. It also checks your registry. Another one is Advanced System Care, that does the same thing as CCleaner and also checks the registry. Download it at www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html.

There are lots of others. Just Google, "cleaning utility." Remember, just because it is a free download, doesn’t necessarily mean it is a free program. It may be, but read the fine print.

If you are really cleaning your hard drive to make more room, there are other things to consider. Be careful what you delete; some items you may want to keep or at least burn to CD or DVD or move to an external hard drive. Some of those videos, music files, photos or programs you purchased may be irreplaceable.

If you’re a photographer or an audiophile, you could free up many gigabytes by transferring those files to another medium. Just having one copy of something you cherish is never a good idea anyway. You wouldn’t want to lose that shot of your son hitting a homer or your daughter’s solo on stage would you?

Hard drives fail. It is a fact of computing. Dupe those images and tunes to a second disc while you’re at it.

Aside from what’s mentioned above, another big space hog is fonts. Some systems have dozens of fonts that are never used. Removing some will also speed up your boot time.

If you wonder how full your computer is, hover your mouse over your "C" drive icon and it will tell you. If you want to see a pie chart, right-click on it and go to Properties.

When you’re done cleaning your system of unnecessary files, run whatever defragmenting tool you have. It will help keep your computer running fast. It likes contiguous free disc space and when you delete as much as we’ve just talked about, there will be lots of gaps in the file structure.

If you don’t have a third-party defrag application installed, go to Programs, Accessories, System Tools then to Defragmenter to use the Windows tool.

If you really want to get serious about it and you’ve had your computer for 4-5 years or more, reformat your hard drive and start all over. Really. I do it annually, at least. There’s nothing like a clean installation of Windows.

To give you an idea of how much "stuff" is on your hard drive: XP uses about 6 to 7 gb of space and Vista maybe 10 gb. Most of the rest that shows on that pie chart is stuff you could either delete or copy to another disc. Doing it that way, you wouldn’t have to delete a thing. After you copy what you need (and there are back-up programs too), reformatting will erase everything for you.

So whether you reinstall Windows or just do some heavy housekeeping, your computer will run faster.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly. Arthur welcomes your computer questions and ideas for future columns.