Free programs come with a price

Computer Care: Free programs can be great, but sometimes at a price

By Arthur Glazer glazer.tech@gmail.com

POSTED: September 17, 2011 12:30 a.m.


All too often, free programs aren't worth what you paid for them. Many are junk; some are only malware, not even real applications. Others come with bloatware attached to them, which leaves you wondering where that new desktop icon or browser toolbar came from.

Let's separate the wheat from the chaff. There are some good, free applications out there; you just need to know where they are. These are not pirated or trial versions, but genuine, legal programs of quality available for download at no cost.

A free download is not necessarily a free program. All downloads are free. A cornucopia of no-cost downloads exist, from tiny utilities to full-blown office suites. If you can't afford Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop or even Windows, read on.

Eight years ago, I purchased Office 2003, but since then two newer versions have come out. I can't keep up with it. Although they are wonderful productivity suites, they are costly, to say the least.

Then about the time Office 2007 was released, I discovered the free Open Office suite online. At openoffice.org you can download a perfectly free and useful Microsoft Office-like suite of programs, from a word processor and graphics program to something for your spreadsheets and presentations.

Recently I've graduated to a newfound suite: LibreOffice, downloadable at libreoffice.org. Unable to put my finger on why, I just like it better. It's a similar, free, user-friendly, professional-quality productivity suite. Both suites are able to read and save to the familiar file formats (doc, xls, ppt, etc) and both have helpful tutorials on their websites.

Another huge money-saver is Gimp, the Photoshop alternative available at gimp.org/downloads. Although version 2.7 has been released, it is considered by its developers to still be buggy or unstable. That's the way with open-source software. They release versions that are yet a work-in-progress. Get version 2.6, available on their download page. It is stable.

Something that all of us need and usually pay for annually is an anti-virus program. Most of the big companies now have free versions and they are getting better all the time. The big caveat here is that as important as this type of program is, you get what you pay for.

There is no support and fewer options than with the paid versions of the programs. Many of the older free anti-virus apps lacked a scheduler, meaning you had to click the "scan" button on a regular basis. Not so anymore. But you do need to set up a schedule.

They usually update virus definitions by themselves, but you should still check for newer program versions regularly. AVG, Avast and Avira all have good free programs, although often they are hard to find (even on their websites). Remember that they are in business to sell products.

Some free utilities that I favor include Ccleaner, Malwarebytes, Advanced System Care, Foxit Reader and Revo Uninstaller. Good sources for these utilities are either from the authors' websites or places like download.com and PCWorld.com.

A good site to watch is giveawayoftheday.com. They have lots of games and screensavers, but you'll also find a useful utility there every now and then. You only have 24 hours to download whatever their daily offering is, and again, support is not included.

For saving and storing your documents in the cloud, there are many choices. Google Docs, Amazon Cloud Drive, Sky Drive and IDrive are all free. I like Dropbox. The more people you turn on to it, the larger your free storage space grows.

If you are a Charter Communications customer, look on their website after you log on to your account and sign up for the unlimited free storage space they have available for you.

Free doesn't stop at programs or storage. A Windows alternative is the open-source Linux operating systems and there are copious amounts of different versions for download. Look into Ubuntu or Debian as the most popular free Windows-like environments for your computer.

When installing open-source programs or operating systems, there is not much to be cautious about. But free commercial programs are another thing altogether. The ploy is often to lull you into a sense of false security with free bait.

Repeatedly, you find that an extra program or malware has been installed after that new one you intentionally installed. Scrutinize each window you come to, every box that is checked and each time you click "Next" and "OK." All it takes is one window that is not OK to bring your system down. Stay away from programs that have come to you in an email or especially in a pop-up. You will most likely infect your computer that way.

If in doubt, Google the program in question and see what others say about it. The Internet is a great resource for information as well as for programs.

There are new free apps appearing online all the time. You should remember that not all is bad, but unfortunately free programs often come with a price.

Arthur Glazer is a freelance writer and computer technician in Gainesville. His column appears biweekly on the Business page and on gainesvilletimes.com.

Storage in the Cloud

Computer Care: Cloud storage an easy way to back up your data

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

POSTED Feb. 20, 2010 1 a.m.

Hard drives fail. It's not a question of if, but rather when. I've had them last eight years; one failed in less than eight months. If you place value on your data, you should find a secondary storage device for it.

Everybody has photos, spreadsheets, documents and other forms of digital matter that they would prefer not to lose. I back up my images to DVDs, my programs to an external hard drives and ghost my operating systems. There are various ways to back things up using different types of media.

Programs exist that will help, from Acronis True Image to Norton Ghost. Even within the programs you have choices. Do you want to make copies of your documents or only your system files? Would you prefer to clone your entire hard drive?

After you make these decisions, you need to have a place to keep them. For obvious reasons, you don't want your backup on the same drive as the source.

There are optical discs such as CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray. Then there are secondary internal hard drives. Most desktops have sufficient room for at least one additional drive, sometimes more. These would show up under My Computer (or Computer) next to the "C" drive, as the "D" drive, moving your CD drive down one, to perhaps the "E" drive.

Next are the external devices, whether portable or not. These include the small keychain-sized thumb drives to the pocket flash drives and the desk drives.

The price of these devices has dropped incredibly in the past year or so. You can get a 500 GB drive for just over $100 now. That's a lot of pictures of the grandkids. Why stop there? Terabyte drives are now all the rage. That is 1,000 gigabytes.

The next wave of storage (and computing) though, is not in your pocket or on your desk. It's on the Internet and is called cloud storage (and cloud computing). This comes from the cloud image that represents the Internet on flow charts.

You may have seen ads for Internet-based products like Mozi or Carbonite in magazines or on TV. This is the new wave. Most offer a gigabyte or two of free storage space in their cloud. For additional fees you can get more storage.

I have a free Mozi account and for less than $5 they offer unlimited storage. Both Mozi and Carbonite offer pricing for home and business accounts.

There are some advantages to cloud storage. You don't have to purchase and maintain a physical device, so there is nothing to wear down, break or lose. It is generally less expensive; it grows with your needs; it is more efficient and more secure than the way you are storing your data now.

Just as with the Acronis or Norton products, the off-site storage arena offers scheduled uploads to their clouds. All data is also encrypted so nobody can see what you are storing.

What I like is the fact that you are not tethered to a box and a cable. Wherever you are, you have access, 24/7 to you data. All you need is a computer and your password.

In a case as this, I suggest a strong password. This is a prime example why you shouldn't use the same term for all of your accounts. If someone hacks your e-mail account, then now they can enter your storage area as well. Choose an eight-character, alpha-numeric password, not your dog's name.

But just as with any product or service, caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. Research the cloud service that you are about to send your valuable information up to. I would stick with one of the better known, big guys. Should you go for say, Carl's Cloud, it may turn out to be Carl's Con and you‘ve lost everything.

You might inquire if they have redundant servers. Do they have more than one copy of your data, should disaster strike them?

Remember, hard drives fail. It's a fact of computing. Generally, they last anywhere from three to five years. Even new ones can stop working. Sure, you'll get a replacement, but your data will still be gone.

I extract data from crashed drives on a regular basis. Often, though, it's not possible. Some drives are too far gone to get anything out of them. I can tell by the look on clients' faces that they have no other copies of what is on the drive.

Backing up data is not difficult, time-consuming, nor does it have to be expensive. Simply choose a method and a device and as they say, just do it!

Next time you decide to back up your data, consider the cloud. The sky is the limit.

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.

USB Gadgets for your PC

Computer Care: USB port options run the gamut

By Arthur Glazer
arthur@glazerthepctech.com

UPDATED Dec. 18, 2009 10:09 p.m.

I am a gadget freak. This should be no surprise to you since you know that I fix and write about computers. Some of the coolest gadgets for computers come in the form of USB-powered devices. So let’s depart today from the usual "how to fix your computer" and find some practical and unusual gadgets for it instead.

A quick primer: USB is Universal Serial Bus, a device-type and port on computers, invented in 1996. It's the flat, rectangular-shaped plug. We are currently at version 2.0, which is 40 times faster than its predecessor, version 1.1. The latest incarnation, USB 3.0, is already here, but we won’t see the devices for it for a few months. They will be faster yet.

When you hear USB, you probably think of flash drives, maybe a mouse, keyboard, webcam or laptop cooler pad. But there is more than that - much more. I have portable storage devices, laptop lamps, Bluetooth chargers and hubs in my collection, and that doesn’t even scratch the surface.

The pocket flash drives that started with a mere 16 megabytes, now store upward of 128 gigabytes (from Kingston). FYI: 1,024 MB = 1 GB. You can get an 8 GB stick now for $20.

Today’s USB flash drives not only store your data, but can encrypt it, password-protect it and tell you how much space you have left on the device. There are also those with biometric fingerprint scanners or facial recognition for real security. These are a far throw from the old vanilla 2 MB drives of the last decade.

If you’re using Vista or Windows 7, alternatively you can use today’s flash drives to boost your system’s memory instead of using it for storage. This is especially helpful if you don’t have much memory to begin with. Windows will ask you what you want to do with the device when you plug it in.

It’s worth noting that not all USB flash drives are the boring black plastic type they started out as years ago. You can now get them decorated with jewels, carved from hardwood or a chunk of steel. They can be for the keychain or pocket, neck or wrist or double as a pen. You can of course, still get black plastic.

Desktop USB units are able to store terabytes of data now. (A terabyte is 1,024 gigabytes.) But more common are the 300-500 GB desktop devices and the 100-300 GB portables.

If you want fancy, there are more than storage devices built for USB. On the practical side, you might consider getting someone a laptop lamp for late night computing or USB personal fan; a multiport hub (I’ve seen from 2 to 16 ports in all shapes and sizes), a keyboard vacuum, beverage warmer, mini-water cooler or mini-fridge as a gift this holiday season. How about a smoke-sucking ashtray or an aroma therapy dispenser? All are great gifts for the desk. There are also shavers and neck, leg and foot warmers. These all plug into a USB port.

Everyone needs a digital card reader. Most have multiple slots one will most certainly accommodate your cameras card. Some even read your phone’s SIM card.

For fun, you can get a mini-aquarium, a missile launcher, TV tuner, microscope or a lava lamp, all USB-powered. Did I mention lava lamps? How about a Mr. Spock USB Pez dispenser?

The nice thing about USB as compared to other type devices is that you can hot swap them. By that, I mean you can plug or unplug them at will. With other port types (video, PS2, serial), you need to power down the system to do that. If you plug in a PS2 mouse, for example (the small round plug), without turning your computer off first, it won’t work. With a USB mouse, it doesn’t matter if you do or not.

Speaking of mice, there are always wired and wireless USB mice (and keyboards) to consider. For the wireless, you plug one part into the USB port and it talks to the device, sans cord.

So where can you find these things? Mostly online, I would guess. Look on Web sites like thinkgeek.com, cyberguys.com, coolest-gadgets.com and usbgadgets.org. The last two, especially, have an extensive listing of unique and affordable USB gadgets. In the neighborhood, check out Frys, as they always have a good selection.

USB gadgets have come a long way from just being small storage devices and printers. Swiss Army knives now have an option of a USB flash drive folded into them. You can play your old vinyl LPs on a USB-powered turntable or slip on a pair of computer-heated slippers.

I not only look forward to the upcoming USB technology, but I’d like to see what they think of putting it in next.

Keep this information in mind while shopping this week. Have a happy computing season and to all a good byte.

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.