Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Frugal Home Computing

I apologize for being all over the place with this blog.

I wanted to pass along a few computing tips for folks who don't always have the funds to keep up with Microsoft's latest and greatest.

Google is gradually adding free online software to its arsenal of products. For more information, read up on the news at the following link on ZDNET:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=437&tag=nl.e622

I find that ZDNET generally has reliable freeware/shareware that helps the basic home PC user, so be sure to check out their downloads section, too.

In another thought, MS Windows Vista has been offering frequent security updates, firewalls, etc. on their Microsoft downloads website. Make sure you are signed up with Microsoft updates, especially if you still have sponsored versions of their software such as Windows XP or Windows Vista.

And if you're running software and you're not sure how up-to-date your security and firewalls are, check out AVG Anti-Virus Free Editon located at: www.grisoft.com

Happy, and safe computing! Terre

2 comments:

Jenn @ Frugal Upstate said...

Open Office is a complete "office suite" that is total freeware and compatable with Microsoft Office. They have a word program, and excel type program, a powerpoint type program and even a database. All for free.

They are not some fly by night thing, many businesses even use it in place of purchasing Microsoft, and when I looked into buying a laptop, many of the more "budget" laptop sites offered Open Office installed on their computers instead of the additonal cost for Microsoft.

Just google it and the site will come right up. I've been using it for months for the powerpoint type program, since that isn't included on our home version of microsoft. It is a bit slower than the microsoft, and the interior layout is slightly different, but I was able to easily figure it out.

Just thought you might be interested.

Terre Parker said...

Hi Jenn,
Thanks for that frugal computing tip. Given that Windows Vista is not being supported by many companies at present, I think your solution is a good one. I'll have to check this out and see if my son and I can save our files to common file types that will translate into school and work software programs.

Thanks again,
Terre