Indispensable utilities for every PC user

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	WOODY’S WINDOWS[/size][/font] Indispensable utilities for every PC user[/size]
	By Woody Leonhard No doubt you’re the designated techie for your family and friends, so when they have a question or problem with their PC, you’re the first call.By installing the right utilities on their PCs, you can reduce your tech time and have more social time.[/size]

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The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/2010/06/03/06 (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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I like the free PDF-XChange Viewer. Light and fast but has plenty of features and ability to customize.

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What’s a good program for organizing pictures? DOwnloading pics from my canon camera, I get a folder for each day of pictures. I would like to be able to search for pictures – to be able to search pictures that have my son in them and were taken in Walt DIsney world, for example.

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What’s a good program for organizing pictures? DOwnloading pics from my canon camera, I get a folder for each day of pictures. I would like to be able to search for pictures – to be able to search pictures that have my son in them and were taken in Walt DIsney world, for example.

Hi Mike and welcome to the Lounge!

Try the free download Windows Essentials Live Photo Gallery. It might be what you are looking for.

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What’s a good program for organizing pictures? DOwnloading pics from my canon camera, I get a folder for each day of pictures. I would like to be able to search for pictures – to be able to search pictures that have my son in them and were taken in Walt DIsney world, for example.

I’ll recommend Picasa. Amazingly powerful, yet FREE. That’s double amazing.

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Adding to the essential utilities:

CCleaner for general cleanup tasks. One-button operation which anyone can use.

Set up for a user who is not technically inclined, or let a more sophisticated user set up for him/herself, a good image backup utility. Macrium Reflect is free and pretty good. I use the non-free Acronis True Image Home. For less-technical users, set the program to do automatic scheduled image backups. Use an external hard drive for this.

Picassa is a great picture organizer, and Irfanview can convert among various picture formats. Irfanview can even create customized folder or shortcut icons from photos or graphics.

Video LAN’s VLC Player is a good iTunes and QuickTime alternative if you don’t need the iTunes Store.

I agree with using Foxit Reader in place of Adobe Reader. And Firefox in place of Internet Explorer. Firefox works even better when AdBlock Plus is added. Also consider Google Chrome instead of the other browsers.

I recommend OpenOffice.org in place of Microsoft Office. As long as you have at least one Office type of program, you’re good to go.

I recommend for any new PC, the free PC Decrapifier to get rid of unneeded OEM software. And along the same lines, RevoUninstaller, or for 64-bit Windows, GlarySoft’s Absolute Uninstaller.

I like Paint.NET for photo editing.

For e-mail, I use the Eudora skin of the Thunderbird Client. It works with POP-3 or IMAP. And it has actual folders, which makes g-Mail downloads easier to organize.

I also urge all PC users to use Secunia PSI and also have Belarc Adviser ready on any computer. Update plug-ins like Flash and Java Runtimes and remove old versions when Secunia advises to do so. Belarc Adviser is useful in the event that something seems not to be working and it does not appear to be virus or software related.

Those are the essentials I would add to the list.

I am not going to cover security software, as individual needs will vary.

-- rc primak

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Great freebies, Woody!

Here are my additions:

1) WizMouse (no sniggering, please) makes the window active when your cursor is in it, without having to click in the window. It’s amazing how useful this is, especially if you work all day with a dual monitor setup. In about two minutes you’ll never want to be without it. Free, but contributions accepted.

http://antibody-software.com/web/software/software/wizmouse-makes-your-mouse-wheel-work-on-the-window-under-the-mouse/

2) Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor) is an amazingly good photo stitching program, much superior to the software included with my last three Canon Powershot models. I can’t believe Microsoft has made this available for free. It uses a more robust version of the stitching code that comes with Microsoft Essentials Live Photo Gallery, which is also quite useful and free.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ice/

3) Okay, so it isn’t free after a 30-day trial period, but for clipping images, and more (like recording video for teaching purposes), I love CaptureWiz Pro. At $39.95 it might seem steep, but volume discounts are available, and this little guy is dead flat indispensible to our small office (a real estate appraisal company). Great companion for Google Earth, Yahoo Maps or Bing Maps.

http://www.pixelmetrics.com/

4) Hey Woody, how could you forget Belarc Advisor? It’s still the best utility for showing a detailed profile of installed software and hardware on a system.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

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SumatraPDF is an excellent Acrobat Reader replacement.

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Great article. Thanks Woody.

If you install programs and then want to uninstall them completely REVO Uninstaller is a killer app. They have a free and paid version but I’ve been using the free version for a year or two and love it.It will go through and clean your registry of the program for you too. You can get it here:
http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

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Just downloaded and installed Foxit. Did not ask me to place eBay links on my computer and did not put any there. Maybe Aunt Myrtle is a shopaholic and they gleaned that from her history. I used to use Foxit a while ago, but tried pdf Xviewer. It does have a lot of options, but it’s confusing and not as light as Foxit. I like Foxit’s simplicity.

Leo

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I had heard good things about Media Monkey, but when I tried it, there were all sorts of problems around its handling of album art.

As I recall, it pasted the same graphic for every album and wouldn’t change.

Have they fixed this, do you know?

"She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined.
She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot."
--Mark Twain

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Here are a couple of free ones that I like ….

Convert for Windows
Convert is a free and easy to use unit conversion program that will convert the most popular units of distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass, power, density, pressure, energy and many others, including the ability to create custom conversions!
http://joshmadison.com/software/convert-for-windows/

Sysinternals Suite
By Mark Russinovich
Updated: May 21, 2010
Introduction
The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools. This file contains the individual troubleshooting tools and help files.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb842062.aspx
On the right side of the page, take a look at Top Ten Downloads which are included in the Suite.

PortableApps.com Suite and PortableApps.com Platform
your computer, without the computer™

PortableApps.com Suite™ is a complete collection of portable apps including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, audio player, sudoku game, password manager, PDF reader, minesweeper clone, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device and you’re ready to go.
http://portableapps.com/suite

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The free version of logmein at logmein.com has worked really well for me. Sometimes it’s easier to simply log in and fix the problem than to explain what to do or travel.

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I’ve found that Google Earth really slows down an older computer (as auntie is likely to have), and as a computer service tech I’ve removed it from computers whose owners had absolutely no idea what the icon was for. So please, make sure that your relative knows what the program is and that he/she wants it in the first place.

Otherwise, great article. I love hearing about the best free apps to keep everything running smoothly.

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So how do I tell Foxit to open pdf files in Outlook?

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Just have 3 add-ons for the (IMHO) MUST HAVE list.
1) RoboForm2Go password software from Siber Systems. Yes there is a cost (39.95 lifetime) but to have literally infinite number of passwords, notes etc. available anywhere you go and more it’s well worth it.
2) TrueCrypt (as Lincoln Spector stated, the ‘Hidden Partition’ function is really very cool and quite easy to use.
3) ‘Portableapps.com’ For ease of use when traveling, many of the programs I use as my default no matter if I’m home or not, full functioning and lighter weight apps that can be used on your main PC, instead of from a USB drive.
Using TrueCrypt and Portableapps together on a PC makes upgrading programs a snap, and if something does go wrong it is a simply to fix as delete the program folder and install a brand new one, because the programs are ‘Portable’ all data files are gone and no registry errors to worry about, and once you ‘dismount’ the drive no remains left over.

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Woody, I gave up on Adobe’s Acrobat Reader when version 9.0 came out and found that they had done away with the option to open multiple PDF documents in the single window. After some research I came across Foxit Reader and liked it much better (for the reasons you stated: far less bloat and nicer features).

Then a few months later on I came across Tracker Software’s PDF X-Change Viewer and found it to be even better that Foxit Reader, for my purposes (viewing dozens and dozens of PDF files and wanting to pin some of them so that I can more easily go back to them again). Try it and you may come to the same conclusion. Their web site is http://www.tracker-software.com/ and you can download t free version from there. (Like Foxit, they also have paid versions with more PDF-manipulation capabilities.)

Cheers, Tony Austin
CEO, Asia/Pacific Computer Services

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I will add one more: 7-Zip is a secure and powerful .zip file creator and reader. It reads the occasional .rar files you might receive, and — unlike WinZip — it’s free.

Woody,
I agree with all of your choices, except 7-Zip. I don’t know why more people don’t know about ZipGenius (http://www.zipgenius.com/). It’s as easy to use as WinZip. Has all the capabilities of WinZip, and more. It can handle 23 different compression formats, including 7z. It has full security capability. And, of course, it’s free. You, like so many others, complain about the 7-Zip user interface when there’s no reason NOT to be using ZipGenius.
Stu

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