The Techzine

Put your money away!

Someone once said “The best things in life are free” and while everyone may not agree with that statement, we are going to show you how you can get some pretty good stuff for nothing! Obviously, when we say nothing we mean it's free, you don’t have to buy it but you will need a computer and a working Internet connection to download it.

Free software

For decades, users have been able to get their hands on free software, modify it for their needs and pass it on to friends for free. Editing software is beyond most people’s skill set but that is ok because the developers and programmers that can do it are very good at what they do, often mimicking expensive applications. In the following article we have provided names, links and general descriptions of different types of free software but please note that The TechGuys cannot be held responsible for content on third party websites or software that you choose to download.

Ubuntu - operating system

Well, starting from the top, operating systems. If you have an old computer lying around but you have lost the Windows disc, or you are Ubuntu logo building your own PC and want to try a different operating system, then have you considered using Linux? Linux is an open source operating system that has been developed under many names like Knoppix, Debian and Xandros but one of our favourites is Ubuntu. Not only is it free, it also comes bundled with a load of great software (which is also free) but you can get them independently for other operating systems if you prefer.

You can download Ubuntu from here.

Open Office.org – word processing etc

Microsoft Office is a fantastic application and you can pick up a home & student version for under £100. However, If you're after something a little cheaper then a company called Sun Microsystems supports a large part of a project OpenOffice.org logo called OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice.org contains applications for word processing, creating spreadsheets, presentations and databases. It has most, if not all, of the commonly used features in Microsoft Office and you can open and save compatible Microsoft Office files in OpenOffice.org.

OpenOffice.org can be downloaded from here.

GIMP - Image editing

Now that digital photography is quite cheap, it’s very easy to take a load of photos and choose the best ones. But it doesn’t matter too much if your pictures have slight imperfections, as you can quickly edit them on your computer. Adobe Photoshop is one of the best programs around to manipulate your photos, but the software is not cheap to buy. A good free alternative is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). It has everything the home users needs to improve digital pictures and its compatible with popular image formats such as JPG, TIFF, GIF, PNG and PSD.

You can download GIMP from here.

Movie players - VLC player

Watching movies on your home PC is now a very common occurrence. Free media players such as Real player, Gome player and Cliprex DVD player are simple to use and offer a good alternative to default players. VLC player You will often find that free players have the same features as bundled players and are compatible with a wide range of video and/or audio formats, so you don’t have to worry if it will or won’t play the common file types.

A great free player you may want to try is the VLC player. It plays nearly every video file you can think of and can be used as a server to stream to multiple monitors/TVs simultaneously.

You can download VLC media player from here.

Games – casual online games

New games are not exactly cheap to buy, they can cost anywhere up to £40. Luckily a few fun-loving people have developed some free and exciting games for you to play. These types of games are often called casual games because they are quick and easy to play. A lot of casual games are playable in your web browser and you may find that a great deal are ‘try now and pay later’ affairs. Still, it isn’t too difficult to find entirely free games to play.

You can play a wide variety of games here.

EULA – End User License Agreements

Free or open source software is widely available for nearly all activities and tasks that you may want to undertake on your PC. In a lot of cases it is quite adequate for home use, however, businesses may want more features or be prevented from using free software by the licensing agreement. It is always important to read the EULA (End User Licence Agreement) before installing any software, especially free software, to make sure you are aware of any restrictions that pertain to the use of it. Once you are sure you can legally use the software for your intended purpose, enjoy!

Asus Eee PC

Ultra portable laptops have seen a surge in popularity recently and the latest offering from ASUS will do nothing to slow that down. The Eee PC 901 laptop is the updated version of the Eee PC 900 and consequently has more features. The extra functionality may not persuade someone with the Eee PC 900 to upgrade, but it should make up the minds of anyone who was umming and arring about whether to get one or not.

The chassis is similar but the changes are all for the better. The cylindrical hinge is sturdy and the corners are bevelled which creates a softer look. The track pad buttons are not recessed, like on the 900 model and this is a welcome change that makes them easier to press. Asus Eee PC Additionally, there is a chrome strip of buttons above the keyboard that control performance settings and the power button sits nicely in there as well.

By advertising a battery life of up to 8 hours, Asus must be confident that users can get somewhere near that. However, by actually using the laptop, that time will be reduced and you should expect to get around 5 – 6 hours with normal use if your Wi-Fi is on, although that is still very impressive. Other features include Bluetooth, 1GB of RAM and a 20GB Solid State hard drive. Solid state drives are like flash drives so they access information faster and use less energy than their larger cousins. And, because there are no moving parts, they last a lot longer too.

Click here to buy it from PC World.

Quick webpage access

If you visit a particular website each day and would like a simple way of accessing it from your desktop, then why not try following the advice below.

When you visit a webpage, you will get a little icon to the left hand side of the web address in the address bar. Simply click the mouse button on the icon and drag it to your desktop and let go. When you want to access the website again, simply double click the icon and your default Internet browser will open the page.

Bill Gates hands over the reins

On the 1st of July, Bill Gates officially ended his full time duties at Microsoft, the company he co-foundered with Paul Allen in 1975. He will still continue to be part of Microsoft as its chairman and he will advise on certain key developments. William will be devoting most of his time to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a charity he setup with his wife, which assists many poorer countries in the areas of health and education.

Since June 2006, he has been mentoring two people to take over the major responsibilities of his role. Ray Ozzie is currently the Chief Software Architect (a title formerly held by Bill) and will obviously be working very closely with software development. Craig Mundie will be in charge of research and long term innovation. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft, and indeed the IT industry, reacts to this change of leadership.

PC software add-ons

When looking for great programs to use on your PC, don’t forget to look for add-ons too. Add-ons are little pieces of software that add extra functionality to programs. For example, you may want to add the Google or Yahoo! toolbar to your web browser. They will allow you to search faster and include useful extra features if you have an account with them.

You can also find many other free add-ons for your software, and the best part about the price is that if you don’t like the extra features or you don’t use them, you can simply uninstall the add-on and you’ve lost nothing. One thing to watch out for, however, is that free software can be a vehicle for viruses, spyware and other nasty things so it pays to do a bit of research before you download anything. A good way to do this is to look up the software in a search engine and do a bit of reading about it first. Are people complaining about it or praising it? Also, have a PicLens look at some websites where you can download it from. If they are reputable sites, then chances are that the software will be safe.

One of our favourite add-ons is PicLens. It can be attached to most major Internet browsers and, once installed, lets you view pictures as if they were in a massive gallery. PicLens works with Google image search, Flickr, YouTube and a load of other commonly used sites. It’s a funky free add-on and you can view a demo and download PicLens from here.

Keep up-to-date with free software

Free software is quite often updated and over time, most of the software that you use on your computer requires updates to help it perform better or just to add new features. If you visit http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker you can download a free update checker that will advise you on the available updates for your computer.

File hippo will also advise you of any beta software that is available too. Beta software is there for you to use and test but it’s not without its compatibility issues and bugs. Only install beta software if you are fully aware of this. If you want to hide any beta software from the listings then just choose the ‘Hide beta versions’ option from the right-hand-side of the page.

Apple® iPhone™ 3G

On July 11th 2008, Apple will release their new version of the iPhone. This release will sport improved audio for listening to iPhone 3G your MP3s, a universal headphone jack to accommodate any headphones and faster downloading from mobile phone networks using 3G. And, as Apple put it, it’s twice as fast and half the price of the original phone at around £100. If you’re tempted to buy one of these phones then you may be faced with changing your mobile phone operator, as the phone is only available from O2™.

CCleaner

It can be hard to remember all the little programs that you need to use to remove programs, clean out temporary files, delete recent history in your browser and all the other things you can do to make your computer more efficient. By using CCleaner, all of those tasks can be carried out in one application, making them quick and easy to do.

When you install CCleaner, you can configure it so that you access it via your Recycle Bin. This makes it convenient as it's on your desktop, but unobtrusive as there is no extra icon for it. Upon opening CCleaner, the user interface you are presented with is intuitive, if a little ordinary in the way it is presented. It is easy to figure out which buttons do what even without reading the how-to guide.

A great feature of CCleaner is its ability to remove more programs than just the Windows default applications, so if you have a program on your computer that is not listed in the Add/Remove Programs application in Windows, chances are you will be able to find it in CCleaner. CCleaner is not without support. Even though you pay nothing for the program, the friendly people that make and distribute CCleaner provide interactive screenshots, a tour of the features, FAQs and a forum where all users of CCleaner can go for some help.

You can download CCleaner from here.

Free Fonts

When writing your memoirs, don’t settle for the ubiquitous Arial and Times New Roman fonts. With a little web browsing and knowhow, you can spice up your documents and projects with some very stylish fonts. There are hundreds of free fonts around and we have included some links for you below, although there are many more sites you can download them from. Once you have downloaded the font, simply copy and paste all of the files (not the folders) into the following directory: C:\Windows\Fonts.

You can use the new fonts in any application such as: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works, Notepad, Photoshop, PowerPoint and many others!

http://freefonts.co.in/

http://www.getfreefonts.info/

http://simplythebest.net/fonts/

The TechGuys have no control over the content on external websites.

Apple® UK movies

If you’re a movie fanatic then you’ll be happy to know that last month Apple announced that the popular video download service that was only available in the states is now available to Apple® Logo UK customers. Apple offers you the opportunity to buy new film releases for £10.99 and the older titles in the library for only £6.99. If you decided to rent them instead, then a new release will cost you £3.49, but only £2.49 for the older titles. Many films are also available for download on the same day as the DVD release, and there is currently a library of over 700 titles to choose from, including many HD titles too. To buy or rent a title you will need a valid credit card that has a billing address in the UK.

In order to play the movies you will need to uses iTunes, Apple TV or upload them to your iPod or iPhone. You get 30 days to start watching the downloaded rented movie, and once you start to watch the film, you have 48 hours to finish viewing it, although you can watch it as many times as you want during that time.

Freesat TVs

This year saw the launch of freesat, which gives you the choice of 80 free TV and radio stations from ITV and the BBC. Freesat TV manufactures like Panasonic have realised the potential of freesat and have decided to amalgamate this technology into some of their TVs, making freesat even more desirable. Plus, there are some HD channels available on freesat and having this built in gives you a single unit to enjoy free HD TV.