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 Post subject: Recommended Programs for Windows and Mac
PostPosted: June 13th, 2012, 6:58 pm 
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All solutions listed below require no payments and should remain free for general usage.

System Stability & Security

Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft Security Essentials is a free anti-malware/anti-virus solution offered for any genuine Windows installation from XP to Windows 7. It has a small footprint so you won't notice it running, and it works fairly well and unobtrusively with the native updates in Windows. Windows 8 will rebrand this to Windows Defender, though they should operate similarly.

Avast! Free - One of the better free Anti-virus solutions offered. It offers two unique features that make it stand out from others: 1) Boot time scan option for those pesky viruses and other issues 2) Sandbox mode for potentially untrusted applications. Ideally this will isolate you from harmful programs if you need to run something sketchy. *Note: you do have to register Avast, but you do not have to purchase a license. Avast is ad-supported unless you purchase, so bear that in mind.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - A free solution that offers a great anti-malware solution to PC users. The free edition doesn't do automatic updates/scans/realtime protection, so you'll want to run this either occasionally or when you think you may be infected. It is not ad-supported, and a license is a one-time fee for a lifetime subscription.

AVG Free - A trusty free anti-virus that many people use. Like Avast, it is ad-supported, so you will have to deal with those on some of the windows. In both cases, they should only advertise their own paid-products.

ClamXav - A free anti-virus for the Mac platform, offering limited protection against known viruses in the wild. With recent virus scares on the Mac platform, it wouldn't hurt to have one on hand just in case.

ClamAV - Similar to ClamXav, ClamAV is built for Windows and Linux. It is free, open source, and generally fine for limited use. It lacks many of the features found in other free anti-virus suites, but it is something.

** Note ** Do not run more than one anti-virus suite at a time. AVG, Avast, Security Essentials should be run independently from each other, though the other programs may be run supplementaly to these.


Office and Productivity

LibreOffice - The popular OpenOffice spinoff that continues to be a wonderful free alternative to Microsoft's Office suite. It's cross-platform, and can generally open files from other paid-solution office programs (ex: LibreOffice Writer can open/save Microsoft Word files).

Google Docs - Google's online document editing suite. Not as fully featured as LibreOffice or Microsoft Office, but it should provide enough capabilities for many users.

Mozilla Thunderbird - Mozilla's feature rich solution for e-mail is a great alternative to the paid Microsoft Outlook. If you've got to use an e-mail client on your desktop, Thunderbird is a great solution.

Windows Live Mail - If you were the type of person to use Outlook Express, you'll like Windows Live Mail. Microsoft's free e-mail client for those who wish to have a desktop solution, Windows Live Mail will allow you to read and write e-mail without much fuss.

Sparrow - Sparrow is a Mac and iOS e-mail client that offers an easy interface for users. A lite version is available with ad-support, while the full version is ad-free.

Adobe Reader - Adobe's official PDF reader. Often under attack, but the most fully featured PDF reader out there. The new Sandboxing feature in version 10 (Adobe Reader X) and higher should help mitigate many security concerns.

Foxit PDF Reader - A nice lightweight PDF reader. Doesn't do some of the fancy Adobe Reader specific functions, but for most people this will be more than enough.

Sumatra PDF - An extremely lightweight and bare bone PDF reader. It can read PDFs and that's where the functionality stops.

** Note ** - If you are using Google's Chrome browser (and potentially Firefox in the future), a simple and lightweight PDF reader is built into your browser. Mac (currently has) and Windows 8 should have an integrated PDF reader that should handle most PDF viewing needs.


Browsers

Google Chrome - Google's web browser. Generally lightweight, fast, and secure. It is updated automatically, and comes bundled with a built-in PDF and Flash player that will automatically update to keep your system secure. Many extensions can be found to add additional functionality to the browser, similar to the other browsers.

Mozilla Firefox - One of the most popular alternatives to Internet Explorer on Windows, Firefox has improved to be one of the more stable and feature-rich browsers offered. Firefox will soon be implementing an automatic-update feature similar to Google Chrome to keep its users as secure as possible as threats and vulnerabilities are detected and fixed.

Opera - One of the outlier browsers that is still fully featured and consistently adding new features. Opera integrates several programs such as being able to handle e-mail and file sharing natively, if that were to help you. As with Firefox and Chrome, Opera offers many extensions that can add functionality to your experience.

** Note ** - Chrome, Firefox, and Opera are all cross-platform. You can use them with Mac, Linux, or PC, and occasionally a mobile operating system as well. Remember, if you are on Vista or Windows 7, upgrade Internet Explorer to version 9. It is far faster, and quite a bit more secure than previous versions.


Miscellaneous

Maintenance

CCleaner - A cross-platform solution for Windows and Mac that cleans browser and system caches. More fully-featured on Windows, allowing (generally unnecessary but fairly safe) editing of the registry, disabling of startup programs, secure disc-erasing, and other utilities. For most people, a weekly or monthly run cleaning will be fine.

Onyx - A very fully featured maintenance utility specifically for the Mac, Onyx will do many of the functions of CCleaner and some other Mac-specific maintenance tasks. Like CCleaner, a monthly run will likely be more than enough for optimum operation.


Backup and Cloud Storage

Dropbox - A free cross-platform solution for storage and syncing of files. 2GB of storage comes standard with free accounts, with opportunities to gain space through referrals and various promotions. Check Dropbox's faq for more information on getting free storage space.

Google Drive - Google's new cross-platform solution for file storage. With 5GB to start, it appears they're aiming directly at Dropbox's offerings. Yearly paid solutions are more affordable than Dropbox, but is as of mid 2012 a very new product.

Skydrive / Live Mesh - An uncertain future for Mesh, but Skydrive is Microsoft's online storage solution that is cross-platform and offers 7GB to start with additional paid-plans.

Carbon Copy Cloner - A Mac-only backup utility that can easily create bootable disc images of your Mac. It offers individual folder or file backup, if that is of interest.

** Note ** Windows and Mac both come with free, useful backup utilities. Windows has the Backup and Restore center where you can backup individual files/folders or create system images, all able to be scheduled. Mac has Time Machine, allowing the user to have automatic backups of key folders/directories on the system.


Media Players

VLC Media Player - A free, cross-platform video player that can handle most video and audio formats.

The Combined Community Codec Pack - A free Windows Media Player codec pack, combined with the additional Media Player Classic program. This combination of MPC and extra codecs will allow you to play nearly any video or audio file you should happen to have.

Perian - A codec pack for QuickTime on Mac allowing for similar benefits to CCCP on Windows. This should allow nearly any audio/video file to be played within QuickTime.

IrfanView - A powerful image viewing program that also can open several video formats. Additionally, IrfanView allows you to convert, optimize, create slideshows, edit, and use a thumbnail/preview option for viewing any folder.

** Note **
List compiled in May 2012. Items subject to change in the future.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to send Shane or me a PM.

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 Post subject: Register and login to get these in-post ads to disappear
PostPosted: June 13th, 2012, 6:58 pm 
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