A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch
My wife needed someone to carry packages on Black Friday, so for the first time ever, I went out to the big sales. When we stopped at the store that was started by that fellow from Arkansas, I discovered a pallet of HP printer/scanner/copiers. Although I really wasn’t shopping for anything, I was looking it over pretty closely. There was another lady there that had six of the machines loaded in her basket. I asked what she was going to do with all of those printers. She told me she didn’t want the printers but was buying the ink. I ended up buying the machine for $25. I wanted the scanner. My wife wanted the printer and the lady wanted her ink. One box had something for everybody.
The multi-function printer got me to thinking about the club’s annual software disk. It has a little something for everyone. I don’t know where Tom found the link for the 200 built in Windows 7 programs, but I figure that one link was worth my club dues this year. It’s like having a control panel on steroids. No more searching to find that hidden function. After I opened the link, it only took about two minutes before I added the link to my start menu. Thanks Tom for creating and burning this years club disc. It has so many programs that I ran out of fingers and toes while trying to count them. They all have my favorite price tag – Zero Dollars. That converts to zero in Euros. You don’t need your VISA to use them.
In this months column, I thought I’d elaborate on a few of the programs that I’ve used in the past and give you my opinion of them. I might even suggest an alternative or two. Some of the links on the disk, I won’t be checking at all. Avast has long been my favorite anti-virus program. I use it on all of the computers in my home network. The KM Player is another program that I use almost exclusively, although I must admit that Microsoft has almost won me back with Windows Media Player 12.
I like to test programs, so I install and uninstall lots of them on my computer. I always use Revo Uninstaller. This program cleans up all of the junk that is left behind by the windows uninstaller.
I’m knocking on wood as I tell you that I have never had a computer infected by any bad stuff. Do you suppose that could be because I regularly use Malware Anti-Bytes, SpywareBlaster and Spybot Search & Destroy?
A few of the programs like 7-Zip I may never use. I don’t use any compressing programs. I have lots of hard drives and no data that I need to archive. I also doubt if I’ll have a need for Create Cover Search. I usually just listen to the music. I don’t need to look at pictures of the album.
There are also a lot of programs that I’m going to try out. I’ll definitely be looking through the OCR folder. Got to play with my new toy. I’m certain I’ll find better software than was included with my HP.
I’ve heard that Firefox has greatly improved over the last few years. If you’re checking out browsers, don’t forget about Opera.
Another program that I’m going to check out is the Cleansoft Update Notifier. I’m happy with Secunia, the program that I use to check for updates, but you never know when you can find something better or easier.
I’m also going to check out the RonyaSoft CD/DVD Label Maker. Tom made the Club CD so attractive that it made an immediate selling point for this program. Besides, I’ve got to use up the ink on that new printer.
Thanks again for the disk, Tom. Great job.