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As most of you know when you get a new PC or Laptop, whether it is a Dell, HP, Toshiba etc., it comes pre-loaded with all kinds of crap in hopes you’ll want to buy the full versions of those apps. Those pre-loaded apps also make your new machine run like an old machine.

One of the things I used to do all the time is go into peoples homes and remove all that crap then install things like AVG Free Antivirus, FireFox and Picasa to make their machines “just work”.

You can save yourself a lot of time and headache if the first thing you do is download and install “The PC Decrapifier“. They just released a new version that now adds…

A new version has just been posted with lots of great updates! This version focused on removing crap from the latest Toshiba Laptops. Some of the newly detected apps are: Norton 360, Microsoft Office 2007 Trial and Activation Assistant, Quickbooks Financial Center, Napster, Memeo AutoBackup and Picasa 2. There were some additional bug fixes for WildTangent Games (again!) and Symantec LiveUpdate.

For a complete list of applications it detects, see here.

Yet another company and jumped into the ring offering a FREE alternative to Microsoft’s Office suite. IBM is now offering Lotus Symphony for free.

http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.jspa

Here are two other FREE choices:
Google Documents: Word Processing, Spreadsheets and now Presentations
- for light casual use with the added bonus of sharing these documents with others on-line and being able to collaborate on them
- https://docs.google.com

OpenOffice: Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Database and more
- for 90% of us out there, this can do everything MS Office can do (for FREE)
- http://www.openoffice.org/

Here is a good step by step on things you can do to make your machine run faster…

http://www.tweak3d.net/joomla/tweak-guides/windows-xp/15-minute-xp-tune-up

Recently Ars Technica reviewed some of todays on-line backup packages. As you know by now I’m a Mozy user and a very happy one. I am happy and not surprised that Mozy got a good review. Check it out for yourselves at: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/other/online-backup-solutions-a-review.ars

I came across this today and wanted to share it with everyone. It’s AntiVirus, AntiSpyware, Firewall and more. These are the guys that inform Microsoft when “Windows” has a security problem. IT IS FREE FOR ONE YEAR.

http://www.eeye.com/html/products/blink/personal/matrix/

If you are a geek like me, then listen to security expert Steve Gibson talk with the creator of this product. (You’ll want to fast-forward through the first 5 or so minutes.)

Security Now Archive Page

I currently use AVG and am very happy with it, but I’m going to try this new product anyway and well, if I don’t like it, I’ll just put AVG back on.

If I come across any issues, I’ll update this posting…

UPDATE: 05/13
- I found the firewall notifications a little annoying and since I am behind a hardware firewall (Linksys Router) I disabled Application and System firewall.

UPDATE: 05/19
- Sorry, on my older system I found that it just slowed me down too much so I uninstalled and put AVG back on. Also, I’ve installed AVG’s new Anti-Spyware tool to give it a try.

I usually try and find free software, but when I saw this I was blown away. If you have photos you want to share with friends by burning to dvd or putting on the web, you should really have a look at “PhotoShow”.

This software is so easy to use, it is as simple as putting photos into a folder, giving your folder a name to describe the photos and your done! Burn it to a dvd and play it for your friends and family (without having to huddle around the computer screen).

- Link to demo
- Link to website

NOTE: I have not actually tried the software yet, so please download the demo and give it a spin yourself before buying… (You may be able to get this software at Staples or FutureShop too).

Some people have asked me over the past while what is going on with the FREE AVG Antivirus software. It is popping up a message saying that it will expire at the end of the year.

This is true, but what may not be clear to some people is that they are replacing the current version with a new version 7.5, which is also FREE.

Here is the blurb from their site:

GRISOFT is announcing a new version of the AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. This new 7.5 version with improved performance and full compatibility with the latest Windows Vista version is available. Users that are using AVG Free 7.1 will be provided with a specific dialog, within the next few weeks, with the opportunity to choose the right option fulfilling their needs. AVG Free 7.1 version will be discontinued on 15th of Jan 2007.

You can download the new version right now if you like, just click on the link shown below and save the file onto your Desktop. Once downloaded, double-click to install. It will replace your current AVG with this new 7.5 version.

Installation File

Here is the page, the download link is on:

I hope this helps.

I just downloaded and installed the latest version of Mozilla Firefox the other day and I have to say that it has two new features I really like: On-the-fly spell check and search suggestions.

I noticed the spell check today while typing e-mails in GMail and actually as I’m typing this blog entry, it is underlining my misspelled words. Just a right-click on the red underline, it is gives me alternatives. NICE!

Also, I do Google searches many times a day and I use the search box in the upper right corner of my FireFox browser. It is really cool that now when I start to type a search term, it automatically pops down a list of searches I may be doing. Very very handy.

So, if you haven’t made the switch to FireFox yet, now is a great time. Get it here… www.Mozilla.com

Other changes, here.

NOTE: A new version of Internet Explorer is coming out any day and your XP machine should ask you if you want to install it. I’m leaving that up to you… I will have to install so I can make sure my websites still work in it. IE has been known not to follow web standards which makes it a pain for us web developers!

Some time ago I mentioned an on-line backup solution called “Carbonite Online Backup“. This is a paid service. Today I’d like to tell you about another on-line backup solution called “Mozy”.

I’ve been using Mozy now for about 4 months and I have to say it is a very nice system. It backs up my selected files from my My Documents folder everyday in the background and it doesn’t affect my work, it waits until my machine is not doing anything before it starts.

The real nice thing about Mozy is that it is free if you only need about 2GB of space. Currently I’m only using about 30% of my allowed free space.

The big plus about a program like this is that your back-up is off-site, meaning if your house burns down, your information is safe. Now, I know you are thinking that it is not safe to have your important information on some companies computer system, but wait… it is. Your files are “encrypted” before sent over the internet to Mozy’s computer system, even the people at Mozy can’t access your information, only you can.

I suggest you give it a try, hey, it is free and you can cancel your account at any time.

To download Mozy and give a free try, click this button.